Mask of the Gamer
by MiyazakiFan18
Summary: Sometimes Zuko needs to run around an Earth Kingdom City on its rooftops, chill on 700 meter high walls, get girls and fight the Dai Li. Zuko is out to redeem himself, while also using his new Gamer power. Zuko/Multi. Starts after Tales of Ba Sing Se, Gamer AU, romance game elements, Gamer!Zuko.
1. The Spirit in the Night

**~000~**

 _Chapter One: The Spirit in the Night_

 **~000~**

"Uncle?"

"Yes?" The pot-bellied man asked, sipping his tea calmly on his comfy pillow.

"Er...I have a strange question to ask you."

"What would that be?" Iroh murmured again, resting the steaming warm cup of his favorite brew on the table between him and his nephew.

"C-Can we stay here in the Earth nation capital?"

His uncle's aged and wise eyes widened slowly, the white-bearded man looking at him. Concentrating. The man began to rub his chin, scratching the white locks on it thoughtfully. Iroh became deeply furrowed in thought before something erupted in their shared apartment.

"Bahhhaaahahaahahhaa!" A hand over his growing stomach, the man fell off his pillow and chuckled as loud as he could, "Zuko, you cannot be serious!"

"W-what's so funny uncle?" Zuko asked, smoothening the very same dress clothes Iroh had forced onto him for his date the previous day.

Still chuckling to himself, the man returned to his pillow, after resting upon it he looked at the banished Prince, "You know I've been trying to convince you to stay here since the moment we arrived here?"

"Yes but..."

"But what else?" Iroh asked, scratching the top of his bald head, "What changed? What could have possibly changed?"

"Li!" A light voice said at their door.

"This discussion has only begun." The boy's uncle noted with a raised grey eyebrow, as he lifted himself off his pillow again and went to the door of their small house.

After opening it, a sweet green robed girl with brown hair looked at the man she ordered tea from only the day before, "Um...is Li here?"

"Li? Oh yes, of course, he is here." Iroh affirmed with a bow of the bald head, "Li, your little girlfriend is here!"

Instead of grumbling how she wasn't his girlfriend, Zuko just stood up off his pillow and walked to Jin, taking her elbow.

Seeing them walk off together, Iroh scratched his chin. _'Is it possible my young nephew has fallen for that Earth Nation girl? These thoughts need some more tea...'_

Zuko and Jin left his apartment complex smiling with his arm around her elbow.

"I was surprised when you asked me to go out on a date with me again." The boy mumbled, walking into the bustling streets of Ba Sing Se an ostrich-drawn carriage rustling by, "Considering how badly the last one went."

Jin giggled making light butterflies rustle in the Prince's chest, "It was great, what are you talking about? That juggling thing with the plates, and I'll never forget how it ended..." She said referencing the fire lit fountain.

Zuko responded with an actual smile, "Hm, maybe today's will end just the same, that is if you want it to."

"I do." She responded with a nod, still standing on the street corner with him.

"Jin, I-"

"Yes?" She asked instantly, her warm brown eyes sparking up on the street corner when her head turned to him.

Zuko was forced to mumble the truth with a raised hand behind his head, scratching a few dark brown locks shyly, "I think you're...pretty..."

"Thanks, I think you're pretty too!" Jin said in an instant, before blushing and turning away, "I-I-I mean you're good looking! Not in a feminine way I-"

The teen shook his head, "Don't worry, I think I'm pretty too." He said with a sly smirk before walking onto the street with a large crowd of other Earth nation peasants.

"Hey Li, after last night, I kept thinking to myself, how did you light all those lamps by the fountain?"

"I'm a fire bender, how else?" The boy joked, shrugging.

"What?" She gasped, looking at him.

He laughed to himself a little, "Wow, you do not know what a joke is. My uncle knows a lot of them, he teaches a few to me sometimes."

"Like that one?" Jin retorted.

"No." He murmured softly, walking past a small tea shop with a man hollering from it, yelling past passing Ba Sing Se citizens.

"Come one come all, to the banana and onion drink drinking challenge! Drink twenty cups of a guru's chakra juice, and you will win a valuable Pai Sho set!"

"Hmm..." Zuko said thinking to himself, "Uncle likes Pai Sho..."

"Li!" Jin cried, "Onions and bananas?"

"Who's the bubbliest prettiest girl I know?" Zuko asked pressing a finger to her nose with a smile, "You. And if there's anything I've learned from you is to express myself more, also I owe Uncle...more than one favor."

The green robed girl shrugged, as the teen walked into the shop confidently.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

They promptly left it, and Jin was utterly blown away by the boy's determination, "L-li! You drank every single one of them!"

Zuko was still proudly holding the new Pai Sho board under his armpit, "Heh. You should get to know me when I'm really motivated."

They two teens looked upwards to the night's sky.

Jin shrugged, "It's already nighttime, you want to show me that fire lit fountain trick again?"

"Of course. That's if you close your eyes again."

They walked under the cloak of night, chatting together the whole way.

"Ah." Zuko murmured, "Seems like they left the lamps unlit again, perfect."

Jin covered her eyes again and Zuko let the tips of his fingers ignite before they flew outwards in bursts lighting each lamp perfectly.

"You can uncover your eyes now Jin."

"L-Li." She whispered out, her shining chocolate eyes seeing the lamps lit up around the fountain.

Zuko smiled as she asked her next question, "D-does this mean I can do the same trick I gave you last night?"

"No." The boy said shaking his head.

"N-no?" The incredibly sweet Earth Nation girl asked surprisedly, "Why not?"

"Because I want to do that trick Jin." He said suddenly, wrapping his arms around the green robed girl with brown hair.

Right next to the fountain, the boy kissed her deeply, Zuko letting her gasp quickly under his soft lips before accepting happily. The two felt their hearts glow quickly, their lips pausing for a moment before pressing together again heartily.

"Oh Li, thank you for this," Jin said sweetly, backing out of his kiss.

He began to look into her eyes, his blazing tiger orange eyes poring into her complacent brown ones, "Jin...I...I used to be confused, but when I'm with you, everything is so clear. So happy, I've never felt so clear about anything else in my whole life." He picked up her hands, making the girl smile, "Will you be my lover, and go on dates with me like yesterdays and today? For as long as you want to?"

Jin nodded instantly, "Definitely Li."

He smiled under her kiss, the two teens holding each other's hands as they pressed their lips to each other tightly.

After backing out from it, they both turned red and looked aside.

"I'm sorry if I made things kind of sudden there Jin, but I really felt that way."

"Of course Li."

"So...I'll see you tomorrow at my Uncle's tea shop?"

"Right!" Jin said happily, the bubbly sweet brown haired girl gripping the top of his green dress robes tightly, the same he'd worn the night before, and kissed him again.

"Bye!" She chortled, skipping away to her home with a smile.

Zuko sighed happily, his heart burning softly while looking after her.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

Zuko burst into their new home in Ba Sing Se with a huge smile and a new Pai Sho set under his arm, "Uncle! I want to speak with you!"

"Good," Iroh affirmed, laying down a steaming kettle on the table where they usually sat and drank tea together.

"I brought you this," Zuko said, extending the expensive set forwards as they both sat cross-legged on their comfy red pillows.

Iroh admired the set with a kindly old smile while sitting, "Hm...how did you get a Pai Sho game this nice?"

"I took the guru juice challenge."

He looked at his young nephew with a raised grey eyebrow, "You drank twenty cups of onion banana juice for this? W-why?"

"Because I love you, Uncle!" Zuko sparked up with a smile atop his pillow, sitting up straighter.

Iroh smacked the Pai Sho set down on the table getting curious, "All right Zuko...you're going to tell me...what has happened to you."

"I...I..." Zuko sighed, looking downwards at his green dress robes and getting an idea, looking upwards at his uncle's warm face, "Uncle...you know how you made me wear these clothes, and wear my hair a certain way to go out with Jin?"

"Yes..."

"Well, now, you didn't make me wear them today. Yesterday, I thought about Jin in my room, after I told you I liked my night with her. I don't feel like I have to be angry anymore, she makes me feel happy!"

"Hmm..." Iroh said stroking his chin, and then stopping suddenly, "Wait, what did you say?"

"T-that she makes me happy?"

"That's it!" The man said, beginning to tear up a little in wonder and happy shock, "I...I...can't believe it!" He held his arms up in the air, yelling loud enough for all of Ba Sing Se to hear, "I finally found something that makes my nephew happy!"

 **~000~**

Zuko would never forget the old children's tale he read in a scroll while growing up in the Fire Nation's Imperial Palace. In the ancient firebending civil war hundreds of years before, Zuko read of a legendary warrior named the Blue Spirit who defended a small village from the wrath of an entire army using nothing but two curved blades and his skills with them. Successfully and singlehandedly.

From that day forward, Zuko knew he'd have to keep that legend alive by himself. And now when he laid on his bed after a date with Jin, he took out his mask and stared at it.

It was it. He could feel it in the air. The excitement, the thrill. The night was ripe for a little midnight escapade. And for the Blue Spirit to return.

Before putting his mask on, Zuko ran his thumb over it and stared into its black eyes. He was all set, two swords at his back, athletic body covered in a black outfit. Standing on his bed, Zuko put on the Mask again.

But not before something strange something.

"What is that!?" shouted Zuko who fell on his bed away from it.

A blue horizontal rectangle had appeared in front of his face when he placed the Mask on his face.

Iroh groaned as he rolled the door to Zuko's room aside, "Mmf…what's wrong?"

His nephew stuttered, "Wh-what? Y-You, you don't see it?"

"Hm?" A grey eyebrow was raised, "Don't see what?"

"Th-th-the weird floaty thing!" stuttered Zuko.

Iroh was further confused, "What floaty thing? I think you must be tired Zuko. You should get plenty of rest before helping me at the tea shop tomorrow."

"Wait you really can't see it?" Zuko didn't get his own question answered when instead there was a similar blue rectangle floating over his uncle's head to the one that had appeared in front of his face.

It read **[Iroh- Level 68 Firebender]**.

Iroh furrowed his grey eyebrows, dark eyes noticing the blue spirit mask that had fallen out of his nephew's hands onto his bed, "What are you doing with that thing out? Please don't tell me you're planning on running about the city wearing that."

"Uh…no uncle," Zuko murmured, "I was just trying it on."

"While wearing your swords and outfit for it." Iroh was not amused.

"Good night uncle," Zuko muttered.

Iroh spoke, "Zu-"

"Good night uncle." Zuko rolled the door aside calmly.

He placed the mask on his face and tied the leather straps around the back of his head. But not before he read the large box that had appeared in front of his face.

 **Name: Zuko (Alias: Li)**

 **Class: The Gamer/Firebender**

 **Level: 27 (17/10000 EXP)**

 **Title: Banished Prince**

 **Age: 16**

 **Health Points: 650/650**

 **Chi Points: 650/650**

 **STR: 18 (+5)**

 **STA: 20 (+10)**

 **DEX: 11**

 **INT: 17**

 **AGI: 21 (+10)**

 **LUK: 7**

 **Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces: 34**

 **Special Status: Blue Spirit Outfit (+5 to [Strength] and +10 to [Stamina] and [Agility].)**

 **Perks: -Adept Firebender (-20% Chi Point consumption when bending fire)**

 **-Easy on the Eyes (+20% speed Progression in female 'routes')**

 **-Tenacious (+2 to all [Statistics] in combat)**

 **Flaws:**

 **-Apathetic (-10% speed progression to all 'routes')**

 **-Hotheaded (-5% speed progression to all romantic 'routes')**

 **Known fire techniques:**

 **-Flame Gout (Level 13, 099/110)**

 **-Blaze (Level 9, 007/100)**

 **-Fire Punch (Level 29, 023/130)**

 **-Lightning Bending (Level 2, 001/200)**

Zuko squinted at it in confusion. _'What is…a Gamer?... What is this…magic? Well, I'm glad that uncle couldn't see it, probably means only I can.'_

His honor unrestored, Zuko tried to put the damningly confusing floating blue rectangle out of his head and he clambered out of his window and onto the rooftops of Ba Sing Se. Sprinting across shingled bricks with small noises, Zuko panted beneath his blue Spirit Mask.

A taller rooftop came and he released a large grunt when doing a front flip onto it.

He ignored the annoying blue box that appeared.

 **[You have developed |Agility| skill: Front Flip (Level 11, 13/140)]**

Zuko let out a sigh of relief when he swept away with his glove covered hand and the rectangle moved away. He kept running across rooftops until he heard a small commotion in an alleyway between two buildings.

"You gave what to who?" A gruff voice said.

Zuko stopped, the blue Spirit watching from above. He quickly saw two blue boxes above the green-wearing toughs.

 **[Dai Li Officers- Level 29 Earthbenders]**

The shopkeep had a less threatening box above his head.

 **[Pottery Merchant- Level 0, Nonbender]**

"N-nothing I swear!" The shopkeeper begged.

One of the two Dai Li officers raised a fist and a brick of hardened earth rose from near his feet. The shopkeeper raised his hands defensively and gave a squeak of fear.

"Those papers belonged to us, shopkeeper." The other one said, "Either get them back, or your debt to us will be the least of your concerns."

The other one bent the brick right into the shop keeps' stomach for good measure with a chuckle, "You know better than to cross those who are uncrossable."

Zuko grunted in frustration when he saw how quickly the two men bowed and shuffled off into the night.

 _'Bastards. Who were they?'_ Zuko wondered.

The shopkeep who was groaning on the ground from the brick that flew into him gasped when Zuko dropped down from the rooftop above to him. He started stuttering in fear when he saw the frightening blue Spirit mask and two swords on his back, "P-Please! I mean no harm."

"Neither do I." Zuko said in his scratchy voice behind his mask, "I need to know. Who were those people?"

"I-I-I can't tell you."

"I have money. I can pay you," assured Zuko.

The man kept stuttering, "N-N-No amount of money is worth death!"

"Then I'll do a favor for you. Tell me who those people were, who they're involved with, and if they're in an organization and how it functions, and I'll do anything you ask."

He had something that was on the tip of his tongue, "A group of smugglers from the outer ring threatened to break everything in my shop if they didn't get a list of the Dai Li's middle ranked members. "

"Dai Li?" hissed Zuko.

"I'd like to tell you more but I can't." The shopkeeper whispered to a blue masked Zuko in the alleyway, "Someone must've told them I hide all their papers for them in my shop. If you can get to their hideout before next week before they sell it and bring the papers back to me, I'll tell you much more about the Dai Li."

As Zuko scratched his masked chin with a gloved hand, a floating blue rectangle appeared that only he could see.

 **New Quest Alert!**

 **Unraveling the Spider's Web**

 **Description: Help a shopkeeper by getting his papers from a smuggler gang and unlock the special |Quest Route|: |Bringing down the Dai Li|!"**

 **Quest Completion Award: +1500 EXP, +20 Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces, +200 to |Reputation| with |Shopkeeper|**

 **Quest Failure: -4 to [Luck] Stat, -600 to |Reputation| with |Shopkeeper|**

 **Do you accept this quest?**

 **Yes/No**

Zuko hit the |Yes| button because he assumed the rectangle could read his finger which it could and nodded to the shopkeeper, "I'll do it."

"Thank you stranger!" gasped the shopkeeper, "You are most kind. My shop is just there across the street." He pointed to it and Zuko remembered the red lantern outside its door.

"Don't mention it," muttered Zuko who climbed away up the alleyway's walls and sprinted away.

A few moments later, and Zuko had reached the very inner edge of the outer ring and was staring up at the wall dividing it with Ba Sing Se's inner ring.

He saw a coming train powered by earthbenders and acted quickly. Zuko ran as fast as he could and caught onto it before he latched onto its edges and flew into the tunnel that took him into the inner ring.

Zuko returned to running around rooftops exploring the Earth Kingdom's capital at night before he ran on top of a particularly lucky house.

"Aang, are you feeling all right?" Katara's motherly voice asked.

Zuko heard this and stopped sprinting instantly. _'I know that voice.'_

Aang was sitting by the pond outside the house the Earth Kingdom had given him in the inner ring staring at his reflection sadly.

"I still haven't found Appa." muttered Aang sadly, "I…I don't feel all right…at all."

Zuko froze and stared at the back of Aang's head from his spot above the rooftop of his house, seeing his signature blue air bending tattoos and he had a blue box only Zuko could see over his head.

 **[Aang, the Avatar- Level 32 Airbender, Level 12 Waterbender, Level 13 Earthbender]**

Zuko gasped beneath his mask, "The avatar is here in the city…" whispered the Banished Prince.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Ladies and gentlemen, the very first Avatar the Last Airbender Gamer story ever! Jin and Zuko will be the main pairing, but there will be others with him such as Ty Lee and Mai. Important note, the second Zuko put on his Mask, it granted him the Gamer power indefinitely, if he takes it off, he still has the Gamer power.**

 **Thank you all for reading and goodbye!**


	2. The Fire Within

**~000~**

 _Chapter Two: The Fire Within_

 **~000~**

Zuko's mind was trained for a lot of things. Combat. Fear suppression. Quick decision. Strength. One thing he never accounted being trained for was the questioning of his honor by what drove his very soul: the capture of the avatar.

The blue mask hid Zuko's face, but it was frozen like the stones of airbending temples.

At that moment, Aang felt like someone was watching him and turned around from Katara's kind words. But the blue spirit did something he never thought he would, he ran as fast as he could from his destiny. Zuko felt like something was chasing him away from Aang, having no clue what it was, he continued sprinting across rooftops.

Shingled bricks made tiny clinking sounds as he ran, eventually he reached a balcony he had to cross to approach the districts letting him return to Iroh's apartment in the outer ring. A woman sweeping her porch down below on the street gasped as she saw him do a front flip off a porch onto another rooftop.

It was if Zuko was escaping the largest tidal wave of his life, and he had to carry himself to the only safe place he knew, which was his uncle's homestead. He ignored the system's noticing of his efforts to run away as fast as he could.

 **Chi Points: 321/650**

When Zuko finally reached his uncle's apartment, he stumbled into its bathroom through its window from the rooftop above. Throwing off his blue mask, Zuko placed his hands on either edge of the bowl in front of the mirror Iroh had in his bathroom holding clean water.

Sweat began to drip loudly off his face into the bowl below as he panted.

 _Plip. Plip. Plip._

His eyes grew wide. His pants grew louder as his heart beat faster. It took sheer willpower to not collapse into the bowl he hovered over. Unknowingly, he was bending fire with his own breath. With every inward breath, Zuko made every flame nearby, including the candles lighting the bathroom, shrink in size. With every outward breath, they expanded quickly.

Similar to how he bent fire out of anger on his first date with Jin, Zuko's emotions overran his senses and was unable to control his chi's influence over his inherited element of fire. This time, there wasn't one emotion but several. Confusion, curiosity, fear, and most of all: shock.

Questions acted as miniature flames that all blazed into a wildfire in his mind.

 _'The Avatar is here!? Is Azula tracking him!? Does the Dai Li know too? Should I capture him? Or do nothing? What in the world do I do!?'_

Iroh's eyes flew open when he noticed the flame giving him a light to read by his bed was growing and shrinking: knowing what it meant. He ran as fast as his old legs could carry him to his bathroom to find Zuko on the verge of passing out.

Zuko stumbled a bit in front of a speechless Iroh before falling on him, "The...the..." He blacked out while leaning on his uncle.

Every flame close to Iroh's apartment, candle, a fire for a stew, every single one fell much weaker when Zuko passed out, before returning to their normal status.

 **~000~**

Jin was mostly surprised to see that Iroh had placed a 'Closed' sign in the window of his tea shop the following morning. She walked through the bustling streets of Ba Sing Se's outer ring to her boyfriend's apartment.

Hearing a knock at the door, Iroh held the doorknob lightly, "Who is it?"

"Uh...it's Jin?...Are you Li's uncle?" Jin asked on the other side of the door.

Iroh opened the door and waved her inside. As he prepared some tea for the girl, she looked at him blankly as she stood, "Er...sorry, my name's Jin. We've never been introduced."

"Iro...Yren." Iroh corrected himself, as he used some jade spark setters instead of his firebending to light the stove for the tea pot.

"Oh...why is the tea shop closed?" Jin asked.

"Zu..." Iroh cleared his throat, "Li is not feeling very well."

"He's not?" asked Jin in rapid attention, "W-What happened?"

"He...he came home very tired." sighed Iroh as he stirred some tea.

Jin sat down on a comfort Iroh had in a circle of pillows around a Pai Sho game he'd started against himself on a table, "Is he all right?"

"He's exhausted. He's been sweating very much for the past few hours, so I must pour water into his mouth to help him." Iroh sipped some of the tea as the tea pot whistled and nodded, satisfied.

"How did he get so tired?"

"I have not been able to ask him." Iroh sat down and placed two cups on the table between him and Jin, "He's been asleep since he arrived last night."

Jin took the tea Iroh poured for her, "C...Can I see him?" She looked up from her cup.

Iroh shook his head, "Sorry. Not today."

"I really want to see him."

The Dragon of the West sat up from his pillow, "I would imagine so. But I still cannot let you see him."

As Iroh picked up a bowl of water and walked towards Zuko's bedroom, Jin spoke out, "Li tells me a lot about how wise and kind you are...how could you not let me see him?"

"Reasons that are for your own good. And his I believe." Iroh opened the door to Zuko's bedroom and sighed when it was a tiny bit open. Looking at her over his shoulder, Iroh spoke, "I am very happy he has found someone like you. But Zuk...Li. Is different than you or I. He processes his emotions differently than anyone. I would like to tell you more, but I cannot."

"Why?"

"Maybe one day...when he knows you well enough, he may tell you." Iroh was about to go into Zuko's room but Jin spoke again.

"What if I beat you in Pai Sho, can I see him then?" suggested Jin.

Iroh chuckled quietly and closed the door lightly behind him.

Considering the massive age difference between them, Jin decided that it would be fruitless to challenge him like Iroh implied, and so she finished her tea, and walked home somewhat sadly from Iroh's apartment.

His nephew was laying on his back on the bed Iroh had bought for him in his room. Iroh opened Zuko's mouth and poured the water in gently. After he closed it, he changed the towel that was over Zuko's forehead and the boy coughed himself awake.

"Ah...finally..." Iroh sat cross-legged next to his nephew who laid out on his bed in a sweat.

"Where's Jin?" Zuko asked in a voice raspier than a man's who walked through a desert.

Iroh nodded, "She was just here."

"You don't want her learning who we are right?"

"I assumed your story could include the Avatar, or something like that yes. I also believe she may harm you if you get too...intimate."

Zuko tried to reach out and grab the bowl of water next to his bed but his fingers were too weak to get it. Iroh understood and poured it into his nephew's parched mouth. Iroh then sat back on his heels silently as Zuko watched him with unamused eyes for a moment.

He blinked tiredly, "You want to know what happened last night?"

"That would be kind." Iroh smiled.

"If I tell you, can you tell me what's happening to me?" asked Zuko.

Iroh then nodded.

Zuko blinked slowly again, "I went into the inner ring...and...I saw the Avatar in a house the city must've given him...and..."

"You ran."

"H-How'd you know?" said Zuko weakly.

"Because you would've ambushed them and stolen the Avatar if you had not. And he is not in my apartment." surmised Iroh.

"Right as always uncle." murmured Zuko raspier than ever, "And I did run from him. I don't know why, but I did before he could even see me...But I ran hours ago, why am I still so tired?"

Iroh explained, "You are currently in conflict with yourself. Running away from the Avatar was so sudden a change for you that the part of you that still needs to capture him has rebelled. However, after your body has calmed and you have finished fighting yourself, whatever decision you take will be clear. And I shall respect it."

"Thank you uncle. But why did I run?"

"You changed too rapidly than I think you should have normally. I believe that the Earth Nation girl has you fallen for her, and so you have convinced yourself to leave behind your old life so quickly to adapt to your new one better," said Iroh, "The transition was too fast for your emotions to change to the speed they needed to."

Zuko coughed, "But...why do I feel so awful?"

"The conflict within yourself will be more draining than anything you could imagine. It will be the hardest fight of your life perhaps."

"C-Can I see Jin?"

"I suspect that she may cause shock similar to how the Avatar did to you. She represents a new life for you Zuko, and the Avatar the old one. The only person I believe you may see now is me."

"But don't you represent my old life?"

"No. Because whatever path you take, I will respect, and you know I will. Rest well Zuko." Iroh placed a hand on top of the towel absorbing Zuko's forehead sweat and Zuko fell back into his haze induce sleep.

 **~000~**

He dreamed that he was back inside the Fire Nation's Royal Palace. Not too far off from where he and his mother named turtle ducks, there was a room where him, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai all played together as children, named eloquently as the pillow room. While it never existed and they never played there, Zuko imagined it aplenty, dreaming they were all small again.

They bounced around laughing and running about, and Zuko and Mai needed more than a little coaxing by Ty Lee to enjoy it. Azula loved it, with help from Ty Lee, she bounced high into the air and released the fluff from the pillow right into the air with her fingernails.

"Wheeeee!" Azula laughed as she set fluff everywhere.

Some pillow dust fell on Zuko's nose and Mai turned to him, "Here you got some-"

"Hey wait-" He tried to stop her.

"Awwww!" Ty Lee giggled as she walked around the bouncy pillow room in Zuko's mind on her hands, "Zuko's shy around his girlfriend!" Her foot reached out as it moved past his face and booped him on the nose.

"Of course he is." Azula smirked, opening more pillows with her nails, "Zuko can be the son of the Fire Lord himself, but he's still shy around little Mai..."

"You!... You all can't..." Zuko retreated to a corner of the pillow room and the girls kept playing together. Until the prince leaned back, he did not discover that he was inside his vacation playhouse on Ember Island, "Hey wait!" He banged on the door he fell out of after it slammed shut on its own, "Hey come on wait!"

Silence fell as Zuko stopped banging the door.

"Zuko!" A voice said in the house.

"Mom?" He shot around, looking, "Mom?"

Zuko began running around the house, before finding a small desk with a painting of him and his family on vacation in the Ember Isle. He paused, staring at it. Zuko picked it up and stared at it, rubbing the dust off it.

"Who am I?" Zuko said aloud as he held it and stared at the face's of his family for what seemed like hours.

Zuko remembered his father was Ozai, the Fire Lord, who would never accept that he was with an Earth Nation peasant. The thought alone of him keeping them apart set the picture of the Royal Family aflame in his hands.

"No...wait!...I didn't want that!" Zuko tried to stamp out the flame with his foot but the fire remained. He tried bending it off the picture and quenching it, but it was the only fire in his life that did as it pleased.

Soon, the fire had spread to the beach house's wooden structure and it was burning down with Zuko inside it. None of the flames responded to his bending, and they kept spreading. He was saved when the planks in the beach house's living room burst under Zuko's weight and he fell.

When he landed he was back in the fire lit courtyard where he kissed Jin. Looking around it, he noticed that the blue spirit himself was staring right at him, sitting on the corner of a rooftop aptly.

"Are...are you me?" Zuko asked.

The spirit didn't respond, and Zuko then woke up from his dream.

 **~000~**

Zuko's eyes opened from the sunlight pouring into his room, and Jin gasped, "Li!"

He smiled, "H-hey Jin."

"Should I get your uncle?" She started for the door but Zuko croaked out in his raspy voice.

"No, he doesn't want me to see you when I'm awake."

"Why is that?" Jin wondered as she took her hand off the doorknob.

Zuko blinked as Jin sat down close to him, "I dunno, he's old. Probably thinks we might...do stuff that I'm too tired for."

"Mmm like what?"

"Like hugging, what else?" Zuko looked at his girlfriend.

"Hugging?" Jin had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter, so as to not alert Iroh that Zuko had awoken, "Huh, I guess you do know some pretty good jokes."

"Thanks." Zuko said in his now even raspier voice.

Jin rested her head on his stomach, and Zuko didn't really mind and she asked him a question, "Hey Li...can you tell me what happened last night?" She tried to look behind her head.

"No, sorry Jin."

"Mm...it's all right." She snuggled closer to him and laid on top of him.

It felt nice to Zuko...almost...warm. Not the biting and stinging warmth of a flame, but similar to a softer and kinder warmth of a blanket. This only continued as he brushed her long brown hair with his fingers.

 **[Congratulations! You have unlocked |Snuggling| with your girlfriend Jin! To read more on |Romantic Game| mechanics, select your menu's info option.]**

Zuko waved the game notification away as it was seriously getting on his nerves, but then looked to the blue box over her head.

 **[Jin- Level 0, Nonbender]**

She turned on his body so that her chest was more parallel with his. He started to feel warmer by the minute. Her breasts were the largest of any girl he knew, excluding the plucky chi blocker Ty Lee, and they squished outwards against his chest.

The warmth he felt went from nice to burning quickly because of the moment, and Jin gasped and stood off him when she heard him gasp and groan in pain.

"L-Li?"

Iroh burst into the room when he heard Zuko's cries of pain, "I told you to tell me when he would awake!" He snapped at Jin, angry over the pain she caused his nephew.

"I-I-" she stuttered.

He brushed past her and knelt to his nephew, "Where does it hurt?"

"E-everywhere!" Zuko winced.

"What the..." Jin watched as the fringes of the blanket over Zuko singed, and the candle next to his bed flickered and expanded, becoming attuned to his breathing once more.

"You need to leave! Now!" Iroh actually snapped to keep their identity a secret and to ensure Zuko's health.

After she flew out the door, Zuko asked his uncle another question, "Why...why did you let her in?"

"I told her to tell me when you woke up. She's a kind girl, it would be cruel to her still." Iroh sighed as he quenched the tiny flames Zuko released with his bending, "Your body is under extreme stress, the part of you that wishes to stay with her has grown stronger, but in retaliation, your other self has attacked and resumed the battle."

"Why...why am I bending?"

"You are not exactly bending." Iroh poured more water into Zuko's mouth before the boy coughed, "Your body is under such intense conflict with itself that it is releasing energy in the only way it knows how, which is fire. Aside from the sweat..." He changed the towel on Zuko's forehead for another one, "I am afraid that I must keep watch as this continues, or we will bring great harm to our neighbors."

Zuko tried to ball his fists but they were simply too weak, "I need to get over this so I can see Jin again. Or keep an eye out for Azula, help you in the tea shop or-"

"Until you have recovered from this, you will not be able to even walk my nephew. Stay, rest, and you will recover much quicker if you ignore any outside influence."

"Ach..." Zuko wiped the unbearable amount of sweat from his forehead under his towel, "Why is my head so hot?"

"A well-developed part of any firebender is their muscles and breath. But for someone who draws a lot on their emotions to bend, the energy inside your mind is a very powerful source Zuko, if not your most powerful. Which is why your dreams and thoughts will be the most important factor in deciding the battle within yourself."

Zuko wanted to keep hearing his uncle's wisdom but the heat became too much again and he fainted into his dreams.

The first thing he noticed was that he was back in the courtyard again with the Blue Spirit. He repeated the question in his dream, "Are you me?"

He said nothing from behind his blue mask, the spirit only gave chase across the city, and Zuko, of course, followed him. "What do you want!?" yelled Zuko as he followed him across the shingled rooftops of Ba Sing Se. Again he said nothing, only giving chase to follow.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**


	3. Burning Out

**~000~**

 _Chapter Three: Burning Out_

 **~000~**

Iroh sipped his tea as he always did, calmly. He had never seen fire bending, an art he considered more noble and traditional than anything else in his life, done so amicably and naturally by his nephew. Simply from how powerfully he commanded the element from his raw emotional state was astounding to behold. He had already removed any flammable objects from Zuko's room as they had a nasty tendency of combusting randomly from being near his bed.

His kind old eyes narrowed on his nephews sweating face. His body temperature was reaching dangerous heights, even for a firebender, and Iroh even had to remove his bedsheets so they wouldn't burn. The amount of sweat he created was alarming to Iroh, and he was seriously lacking in sleep as he had to pour water into his mouth continuously.

Zuko's eyes were occasionally moving beneath his eyelids, and he sometimes grunted in pain with his face contorted in concentration.

Iroh could only imagine what went on his poor nephews head.

 **~000~**

Feet pattered along the rooftops of Ba Sing Se in Zuko's mind.

"Hey! I just want to talk to you!" shouted Zuko the Blue Spirit as he chased him.

He was faster than Zuko was, which was very strange to him. Zuko summoned a small boost of flames from his fists to propel him forward and next to the Spirit.

"What's your problem!?" said Zuko angrily again as he ran side by side with it.

The Spirit did not respond and instead dropped into an alleyway much faster than Zuko could react. With a quick grunt, Zuko hit the ground and continued the chase. He followed him into the courtyard where he kissed Jin for the first time.

Zuko's running stopped. The chase seemed to be paused for a moment, and he looked around the courtyard tensely, trying to spot his adversary.

Out of the shadows flew the Blue Spirit, attacking Zuko without warning with its swords. The blade passed clean over Zuko's eyes, as he had the split second reaction to dodge the slash. Zuko fought the Spirit for what seemed like hours, the blades of Spirit proved to be faster than his own strikes.

"Hey! Calm down!" warned Zuko as his fists glowed red with fire.

Zuko dodged another quick set of slashes and yelled in fury. Fire met steel as Zuko defended himself flying about with rapid and furious flaming attacks. The Blue Spirit was indeed the legend Zuko read about as a child, dashing around to avoid Zuko's firebending and blocking it with its swords, Zuko's attacks proved little more than nuisances.

The Blue Spirit outmatched Zuko in every step of the battle, Zuko slowly tiring himself as the Blue Spirit either evaded or parried every blazing strike sent to incinerate it. The Blue Spirit did a backflip onto the fountain behind it and Zuko sent a gout of flames out from his fist. The fire missed as the Spirit did another flip to avoid it.

When the Spirit landed on its feet, Zuko panted and thought. _'How is he faster than me? Aren't I supposed to be him? We're supposed to be the same level at fighting, but he's beating me!'_ He stared at the Spirit's blue mask. _'He's fighting like he was in the story I read as a child...he never gets tired, every attack is sharp, every parry precise...I can never beat him...'_ His eyes widened. _'Wait a minute...that's just it!'_

Zuko felt fire wisp off his body as he yelled at the Spirit in a powerful rage, "I'm not afraid of myself anymore! I'm not afraid of you anymore either because...you're not me!"

The Spirit stood up straight from his slightly crouched fighting stance. He refrained from his bouncing. After a quiet pause, the Spirit sheathed its swords and stared at him. The banished prince felt a twinge of anger, "Well!? Say something!"

It kept staring at him.

"Graaaaahhh!"

Zuko jumped up into the air with his fists glowing brightly and when he struck the ground a torrent of flames grew to the size of a tidal wave and consumed everything in front of him.

The flames died and the Spirit was still standing.

"I don't get it! Why can't I understand anything about this!? I can't kill you, I can't fight you or chase you! Why?"

The Spirit's silence only added to Zuko's anger. He sighed and rubbed his temple with both of his hands. _'Okay...what would Uncle do...he'd use what he already knew about his situation...and think about it...over a pot of tea but I can still do this without that...The Spirit reacted to me chasing it by running...It reacted to me looking for it by attacking...and to me recognizing it wasn't me...by looking at me...This doesn't make any damned sense!'_

After some more thinking, Zuko caught onto it.

 _'The only thing I can gather is that he stopped being violent and energetic when I realized something about myself. Which means that I...have to recognize something about myself before...I learn something?... This is the strangest dream I've ever had.'_

Zuko started walking toward the walls and oddly, the Spirit followed him. He took a few steps and the Spirit was closer. Zuko turned back around only to see that the Spirit was still following him. He sighed again and made for the gigantic walls protecting the Ba Sing Se in his dreams.

 **~000~**

The firebender sat on the wall with his legs dangling off the edge next to the Blue Spirit overlooking the setting sun on the horizon. The plains surrounding the city stretched for miles, and Zuko's sharp mind returned to work.

 _'His blades felt too real, same thing with his attacks. The walls feel real too...this all feels too real...'_

Zuko turned to the Spirit, "I don't really get what I have to know...but all I feel is...that I don't really know what to do. I can't chase you, or fight you, or kill you...so I guess...I can't really do anything to you so I won't do anything. I guess I'll admit that...you can't change me at all...and I can't change you either."

The Spirit's blue Mask was turned towards Zuko the whole time as if it was listening. Then it stood up and walked towards the edge of the wall. Zuko watched as the Spirit took off its mask and dropped it on the wall. Zuko had no time to get any of the Spirit's actual features down before it jumped. Zuko ran to the edge of the wall as fast as he could but the Spirit disappeared. There was no trace of it on the ground below or even free falling towards the city's streets.

It all felt...a little too strange to be a dream to Zuko. Whatever it was, unsettling was a good way to describe it to him.

Zuko picked up the blue mask he knew all too well and read the small engraving on its inside: A man is his choices.

Then, Zuko woke up.

 **~000~**

The boy gasped as he rose from his bed, his uncle quick to rush to his side.

"How are you feeling?" quickly asked Iroh.

"W-Water." gasped Zuko.

After refreshing his nephew, the man looked at him. "What did you see?"

"I was here in the city...the Spirit..." Zuko looked to the closet where he kept his Spirit's gear, "I chased him. He ran, and we fought. But I couldn't kill him. It was just...nothing."

"The Spirit, what did it say?" murmured Iroh.

"Nothing. Then he left."

Iroh stroked his beard. "You must've encountered your imagination's manifestation of the Spirit. Then...how do you feel emotionally?"

"Uh...I don't know."

Iroh reached out and pressed the back of his hand to Zuko's forehead. "You're not burning up like before. You must've stabilized internally."

"C...Can I help you out at the tea shop tomorrow?"

He nodded. "After you get a good night's sleep, yes you may."

"Thank you, uncle." Zuko turned on his bed and Iroh brought the bed sheets back in to cover his nephew. Afterward, Iroh brought Zuko a bowl of soup with dumplings in them which he devoured instantly.

As Zuko ate, Iroh mumbled, "So then have you decided if you will resume your quest to capture the Avatar again?"

The chewing slowed. Zuko put his bowl down in his lap, "I have. I'm going to stay away from the inner ring as much as I can, and help you run the tea shop."

"And will there be any more...nighttime wanderings?" Iroh's eyes wavered to the closet that held Zuko's Blue Spirit costume.

"Perhaps." Zuko picked up his bowl again and kept chewing. Iroh didn't seem satisfied with this answer so he left hiding his frown. Zuko finished the bowl soon afterwards and fell back asleep, still tired from the extreme lack of nutrients in his body.

 **~000~**

After a hearty breakfast, Zuko set out with his uncle to the tea shop and which was open for business again. None of the customers were of any interest to Zuko except his girlfriend Jin who strolled through the front door in her regular brown ponytail and green robe.

"Hey Jin. I'm so sorry I was-"

Jin finished his sentence by pulling him from behind the counter and kissing him, grabbing the attention of many customers from their tables. She pulled out from it and smiled. "I'm just glad you're here and the tea shop's open again." muttered the girl before his lips.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." quietly said Zuko.

Iroh cleared his throat after taking some coins from a customer.

"Er...uh yeah I gotta get back to helping uncle."

"Li I was wondering if we could...set up those kissy dates up again?" Jin fluttered her eyelashes at Zuko.

"Uh..."

"There's a festival tonight. Maybe we could go together?" Jin placed her hands together on the counter and accidentally pressed her breasts together between her arms.

Zuko bit his lip and tried his best not to raise the size of a few candle flames nearby when he saw this, "Yeah, I'll check with uncle, see if I'm not working today. But if not I'll see you then."

"Great! Let's meet at the fountain all right? Bye, Li!" Jin pecked him on the cheek and walked off, her hips swaying about as she walked off.

Zuko's breathing techniques for controlling fire proved helpful to stop any flames nearby from growing as he tried his best not to check out his own girlfriend.

"Zuko. The order." Iroh reminded him.

"Right." Zuko returned to his job.

It was all rather tedious really. He had to constantly check which tea kettles were ready, make four different kinds of dumplings, and do the tea just how his uncle taught him. Of course, matching Iroh's legendary prowess at tea making was next to impossible, but the prince's uncle always reminded him he was improving.

Eventually, nighttime rolled around and Zuko hung up his smock when Iroh gave him the go-ahead to go on his date with Jin.

When he looked around the many people enjoying the festival around the fountain, his eyes couldn't find Jin. A pair of hands covered his eyes and a soft voice spoke out, "Guess who?"

"Er...Jin?"

"That's right! It's me!" Jin turned him around and pecked him on the lips. She held his hands and looked up into his eyes. "How was work?"

"Boring?" He imitated his uncle. "Li...you must add more ginseng...Li...you must keep it boiling less...he treats it like an art it's ridiculous."

"Well he does have his own tea shop." Jin took him by the hand into the festival, "Come on, let's enjoy ourselves shall we?"

A trio of girls from the Fire Nation were on a street corner nearby as Jin and Zuko enjoyed their date. Mai was spinning her kunai around her finger as she leaned on a vendor's wooden beam in their stand. Ty Lee was walking around on her hands as usual and Azula was admiring the jewelry the vendor was selling. None of them were wearing their usual clothes and instead were dressed like commoners of the Earth Nation.

Azula eventually pulled away from the stand after convincing herself that the jewelry was too 'peasant like' to buy.

Mai groaned in her dry tone as she saw Azula move away from the jewelry stand, "This infiltration thing is such a drag. If we want to overthrow the Earth Nation why don't we just sabotage all their defenses and invade?"

"Because dearest." said Azula in her sly voice, "The drill has been stopped already. This is the only plan we have available to us. Those Kiyoshi warrior costumes will come in handy when we approach the Earth King."

"Besides, there are so many cute boys here in Ba Sing Se!" Ty Lee flipped over from walking on her hands, "Especially Zuko, I'm really hoping he's here in the capital."

"Oh please Ty Lee." Azula tossed a hand, "Zuzu will do nothing but get in the way of our plans if he's here."

"Wouldn't he turn us into the Earth Nation authority?" wondered Mai.

"Oh nonsense dear." Azula shrugged, "He might object to us being here but I doubt he'll go that far. And he has no evidence we're threatening to the Earth Nation at all...The only real threat to us is the Dai Li. Who are run by a mouse."

Ty Lee stretched as she saw Zuko and Jin play a game together at another stand the festival hosted, "Hey Mai? What would you do if you saw another girl with Zuko?"

"I'd slice her." Mai gripped her kunai at the mere thought of it, "Why?"

"Because he's right there with one now." casually mentioned Ty Lee, "She's actually very pretty."

"What!?" Mai's eyes widened when she saw where her friend pointed to.

Zuko covered his face in shame and Jin burst out laughing when they saw the result of the game they were playing at the stand.

"Oh I'm sure they're just friends." Ty Lee assured Mai.

Jin and Zuko turned towards each other smiling and embraced each other in a passionate kiss.

"Well...that could just be a friendly kiss..." Ty Lee trailed with a hint of jealousy.

Mai, however, was a little less subtle. She jabbed her knife right through a fruit on a nearby stand, making the vendor's eyes bulge out of their head when he saw the juice fly about.

She started walking towards Zuko and his girlfriend, "I'm gonna cut her."

Azula's hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, "Uh uh uh! Not yet Mai! As much as I admire you wanting to do that, we can't draw attention to ourselves. Otherwise, the plan is ruined, and we wouldn't want that wouldn't we?"

Mai sighed and her shoulder untensed, "No."

"Good." snickered Azula. "So...Zuzu is here in Ba Sing Se with us...I guess that means we'll have to act faster...lest he and uncle meddle. I'm going to head back, you two feel free to come join me whenever you feel up to it."

Azula left and Ty Lee looked at Mai's calmly angry face, "Hey...don't get so upset. I'm sure he doesn't hate you or anything."

"Ugh, this is so wrong!" Mai pocketed her knife and started walking off in a huff towards an arching bridge.

Ty Lee sighed, "I get where you're coming from though..." She pressed one side of her mouth inwards, seeing Zuko and Jin laugh and hold hands together, "It definitely is unfair..."

Mai ignored the blind girl standing next to her as she carved wood out of the bridge's handrail. Toph raised an eyebrow, "What did that bridge ever do to you?"

She kept ignoring her, shaving off more wood angrily.

The earthbender raised both eyebrows now, "I'm blind, not deaf you know."

She calmed down, pocketing her knife again, "Yeah...it's just...there's this person I felt like I lost."

"My friend's dealing with loss too. He had a really close friend of his he's looking for." Toph said, "I feel really bad for him. I can't really say I've been attached to anyone like he is to him."

"And how's he coping?" asked Mai.

"Pretty badly I'd say." admitted Toph in her typical upfront manner of speaking, "He's mopey all day, which is really weird because he's usually a very happy person."

"So what do you do to make him feel better?"

"Well I'm always there for him, that's what friends do."

Mai looked down at her feet, shifting her eyes from Toph's blank ones, "That's...actually very sweet of you."

"Thanks, I try my best. I guess I've never really had friends before so I try to be as nice as I can when I'm needed. But I can feel like you're caring too if you're feeling that angry over losing a friend."

A rare smile rose on Mai's face, "You're very perceptive for a blind girl. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

"Yeah...thanks." Toph frowned blankly and Mai's smile fell.

"Thank you...I'll try to be there for my friend to get him back."

"Yeah, I'll try to do the same." Toph nodded as Mai stepped off the bridge.

Toph heard Katara's sharp voice clear as day, "Toph! Where have you been? We've been looking for you for ages."

"Sorry!" Toph was helped off the bridge by Katara as she knew she couldn't 'see' on wood, "I got the sweets I wanted, I was just waiting for you guys to pass by here. How you holding up Aang?"

"Better." The Avatar said with a yawn, "This festival was just what I needed to get my mind off things."

"Look at this awesome map of the Earth Nation I just bought!" Sokka showed it off as his sister rolled her eyes.

Katara crossed her arms, "Some vendor swindled him for twenty pieces."

"He did not!" Sokka folded it again.

"Well I think it looks lovely," Toph smirked.

"Thank you, I thought-" Sokka crumpled up the map as he covered his eyes with his fists, "Agh! You're doing it again!"

Team Avatar laughed together as they walked back to the Inner Ring.

 **~000~**

Jin and Zuko had their hands swaying together as they reached her apartment, "Well...that was very fun."

"Yeah...it was." Zuko nodded, enjoying this lax new lifestyle of tea and festivals and dates. The transition was much more gradual after being bedridden for two days.

Zuko brushed some of Jin's brown hair aside and kissed her, but he opened his eyes to check up and down the street as he wanted to try something. He traced kisses all the way from Jin's lips, the girl gasping the whole way until he reached his girlfriend's neck. There, he moved her brown hair and kissed it.

Jin failed to stifle her moan and gasped louder, feeling Zuko bite down lightly.

"Oh!" Jin winced from the feeling, "That's a little painful."

"Sorry!" Zuko chuckled awkwardly as he met her kind brown eyes, "I thought you'd like it."

"No, it's fine but I should maybe head upstairs, my parents could start worrying. See you tomorrow Li."

"You'll come to the tea shop?" Zuko asked.

She nodded and smiled, "Of course I will. Good night." She blew a kiss which Zuko smiled and patted on his cheek.

Jin opened the door to her apartment complex and Zuko started walking home, messing with the [System] along the way.

 **|Romantic Game|**

 **|Updates:**

 **+New relationship level with |Jin|, |Neck Kissing|**

 **+5 Affection Points with Jin**

 **+3 Affection Points with Jin**

This bothered Zuko a little, he didn't remember disabling |Notifications| from any setting or something to that effect but he didn't really care enough to search further. As with the |Affection Points| if he didn't understand it, he didn't question it. Weird magic was just that to him, weird. He did however come across something peculiar in his exploration of the |System|'s interface.

 **[Skill Attained: Level 1 Tea-Making]**

Zuko face palmed. Tea making? Really? That was a skill in the system?

 _'Stupid things will always have stupid places...'_ Zuko shrugged as he walked back home.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**


	4. The Mask and the Spiders

**~000~**

 _Chapter Four: The Mask and the Spiders_

 **~000~**

What Zuko was looking at was honestly pretty embarrassing to him.

 **[Congratulations! After extensive practice, you have improved a |Crafting Skill|: Level 3 Tea-Making!]**

Zuko felt like facepalming. He came from the line of the most powerful fire benders to ever live and here he was, helping his uncle run his tea shop. Routine set in and Zuko was wondering if his teenage life could ever be more monotonous.

He opened the tea shop with his uncle. Made dumplings, set teapots to boil, Jin came into the shop with a smile. Then nighttime fell, he closed up the shop and he and Jin kissed each other good night.

The next day was the same.

He opened the tea shop with his uncle. Made dumplings, set teapots to boil, Jin came into the shop with a smile. Then nighttime fell, he closed up the shop and he and Jin kissed each other good night.

After another day, the |System| took notice of this.

 **[You have leveled up a |Crafting Skill|: Level 4 Tea-Making]**

"Zuko, the next batch of tea needs to be set." Iroh bowed to a customer who handed him a few coins.

Zuko went into the kitchen the tea shop had and made sure no one could see him. He expelled a few flames from his hands and lit the stove without using any fire setters.

When Iroh walked in looking for something in the pantry, Zuko spoke to him. "Er...uncle? Do you miss firebending?"

Iroh stayed silent for a second. "No. Do you Zuko?"

He nodded. "Can't stop thinking about how long it's been since I bent for real."

Iroh reached into the pantry. "You must've not resolved your feelings about capturing the Avatar if you still wish to cause violence without reason."

"Uncle it's that...I haven't been able to do any exercise since I got here in the city with you. I want to wear the Mask some nights but you..." Zuko stopped himself but Iroh sighed.

"We have a good life here...better than those most have here. Why risk that over a silly nightly escapade?"

"But I...nevermind."

After Iroh left the kitchen, Zuko checked his |Interface|. He remembered how he still needed to help that shopkeeper recover his papers. He'd put the mask on that night, regardless of what Iroh said.

 **~000~**

Sitting on the edge of a rooftop crouched, Zuko's fist tightened. He knew he was skilled at dual wielding his dao, but he was considering fire bending if things got too out of hand.

After sprinting and flipping over rooftops, Zuko found the shopkeep's store marked with the red lantern outside it. The man gave a sigh of relief when he saw Zuko appear. "I'm glad to see you! I almost thought you'd forgotten-"

"Where's the hideout?" interrupted Zuko from behind his mask.

"Some gambling den on the western edge of the Outer Ring. No one knows where it is but-"

Zuko had already disappeared, the pottery merchant wondering where Zuko could've gone to after he escaped his sight.

He was already flying with all haste westward, crouching on top of an earthbender driven train. A man from below saw him and squinted at him, but after a few seconds, Zuko had already disappeared and flown into the night.

Zuko eventually came across the gambling den which was noticeable by the two thugs standing outside its door with their large arms crossed.

After reading the blue boxes only Zuko could see over their heads, Zuko rubbed his mask covered chin. _'They're earthbenders. Should make this quick before they make any noise.'_

The two men didn't even notice how Zuko had snuck up behind them and was ready to knock them both out. One took Zuko's elbow to his teeth, and before the other one could bend Zuko had already swept his leg and kicked his head.

With both of them out of the picture for the time being, Zuko crouched on his way inside the gambling den. Men were playing multiple different games, drinking and laughing loudly as Zuko used the shadows as his hiding place. A bit of wall separated the hallway Zuko was hiding in and the men gambling at their game tables.

A servant holding a tray of food and other drinks was passing by as Zuko stuck his sword out from the shadows and pressed it to the man's side. "Don't. Move."

The man gulped and nodded with a question. "What do you want?"

"Put that tray down slowly." demanded Zuko. The man set it down without a hint of noise and Zuko kept speaking. "There are some papers that were stolen from a pottery seller. Where are they?"

"In a small chest in a room back there. Please, d-don't hurt me."

"Don't worry about it." Zuko used the bottom of his dao's grip to knock the man unconscious. After Zuko hid the man away in a small broom closet, Zuko avoided walking thugs to sneak up to the room.

Zuko grunted when the doorknob was shut, knowing he couldn't bust the door down without a distraction, he came up with a quick plan. Zuko snuck over to a dark corner of the gambling hall and lit a tiny fire with his bending, afterwards, it grew and the men were distracted to put it out after it grew.

Zuko used the commotion caused by the fire he started to break the door to the room open and look around it. There was a desk and other assorted things but Zuko knew he only had the time to get the papers and get out.

"Hey!" one of the thugs guarding the gambling den said.

Zuko watched as the thug bent large pieces of stone out of the ground and sent them flying towards him. Zuko drew his swords and cut them out of the air. Other thugs began appearing and Zuko rolled around to avoid earth as he picked up the chest in the room. Jumping out of the window of the room, Zuko had pieces of rock flying in his direction as he vaulted into the air on another rooftop.

 **[You have leveled up your skill in |Level 11 - Acrobatics!|]**

"Go after him!" Zuko heard the men he almost escaped yell.

Soon earthbenders were chasing Zuko across rooftops. Zuko was only holding one sword as his other arm was clutched around the chest he stole from the smugglers.

Rock and bricks which were made out of dried clay were sent flying toward him and Zuko could only cut them away with one sword as he escaped. Zuko eventually reached the far western edge of the wall surrounding Ba Sing Se and was surrounded by thugs on rooftops.

There was nowhere to run and his swords would be at an ineffective range. He knew this was a long time coming.

The men prepared bricks and stones to bend and Zuko dropped his swords and the chest he was carrying. A piece of rock was bent at his head but he dodged it and sent out a gout of flames from his fists at the man who did.

He went flying off the rooftop with a yell and the men stood shocked. They grunted out of it and attacked.

Zuko's shoulder was hit by a brick and he grunted in rage. He lost control and adrenaline took over for the duration of the fight. Zuko created large fireballs from his feet as he kicked towards his attackers with everything he had. Only a few managed to summon enough bricks from the rooftops to prevent being burnt, but others were left scorched from the multiple attacks.

Due to the immense amount of [Chi] Zuko burnt bending at his enemies, and the fact that he was using his feet instead of his fists to attack, the |System| recognized this and responded.

 **[You have unlocked a new |Fire Technique|!: Flame Kick (Level 1: 010/90)]**

Zuko had only disabled around half of his attackers but he was left panting beneath his mask. A notification from the |System| alarmed him.

 **[325/650 CP]**

He felt himself recover as the men around him recovered as well, tired from bending earth at a boy who avoided or scorched anything that came at him. However, Zuko's |STA| stat came in handy as he regenerated his Chi faster than his opponents and descended on them with a fury.

Zuko's leg that was set aflame knocked another man of the rooftop from the adrenaline overload and Zuko's |STR| stat. One bent a large number of bricks at him throwing his arms around in Zuko's direction, but Zuko used [Blaze].

A large fireball exploded from Zuko's fists, both of his arms were expelling fire into a combined attack that burnt the projectiles sent at him.

Zuko dodged a brick as he ran up to a thug and swept his leg. His friends paused their attacks as Zuko was too close to their ally to strike. Zuko raised his foot upward in an axe kick and brought a large flame down on the man's back, burning it and causing him to shriek.

There were only around seven men left standing on the rooftop, and they all decided to bend bricks nonstop at Zuko. Zuko countered with another [Blaze] and when the smoke cleared from the flames he sent, the Blue Mask came out striking with his whole body set on fire.

Seeing their friends being burnt while they screamed by what appeared to be a blue masked demon lit on fire caused pure fear in the men. Some men used this fear to randomly attack Zuko out of pure survival with their fists. But Zuko simply dodged or blocked and countered in kind, flaming strikes disabling the few that remained.

Zuko flew away into the night carrying his swords on his back and a chest wrapped under his arm, using a large jet of flames from his fist to propel himself into the night's sky.

Because the |System| recognized his improvement at fighting from his victory, Zuko received a notification that he ignored as he did with most.

 **[Congratulations! You have gained +2000 EXP from fighting, and have improved in the following Fire Techniques:**

-Flame Gout (Level 13, 107/110

-Blaze (Level 9, 041/100)

-Fire Punch (Level 29, 031/130]

The Blue Mask made a shadow against the moon, fire around him and swords and chest carried tightly.

He was feeling more alive than he ever had the past few days and found himself on the edge of a corner of a particular rooftop to open the chest he stole from the men he defeated. He cracked the lock off with one of his swords and checked what was inside.

 **[Inventory Update!: You have gained +40 Earth Kingdom Silver Pieces, +30 Earth Kingdom Gold Pieces, and the |Pottery Merchant's Papers|]**

Zuko didn't want to use the nervous and bumbling pottery vendor as his only source of information so he decided to read through the papers that were extorted from him. Most of it was names of people Zuko didn't know, but one thing caught his eye.

It was a transaction for what the parchment described as a flying bison. Zuko knew what that meant. He pocketed the coins he found in the chest and the papers, leaving the chest there on the rooftop as he flew towards the merchant's shop.

When he landed next to the red lantern and walked back inside, the potterer laughed when he saw Zuko approach and hand him his papers. "Oh thank goodness! You're a lifesaver!"

 **[Quest Update! You have successfully completed the quest |Unraveling the Spiders Web|!**

 **You have gained +1500 EXP, +20 Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces, and +200 to |Reputation| with |Shopkeeper|]**

 **[You have unlocked a special Quest Route: |Bringing Down the Dai Li|!]**

"Please, take this. It's not much, but it's the least I could do for what you did for me." the man handed Zuko a small bag of copper which he promptly placed next to his other coins in his pocket.

 **[Inventory Update!: You have gained +20 Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces]**

Zuko glanced at this notification and wondered what would've happened if the man didn't pay him. He automatically assumed that this magic, whatever it was, could be a bit strange and needed some fixing.

"Please, if you want to come find me, I'll keep that red lantern outside in case you want some more work."

Zuko nodded. "Who are the Dai Li?"

The shopkeep explained. "A man named Long Feng is using them to keep the news about the war away from the citizens."

"You know about the war?" asked Zuko.

He nodded. "My son and I ran a small farm together in the southern part of the kingdom before we fled here. My son was an exceptional earthbender and Long Feng recruited him to join, that's how I had those papers, I work for them like my son. Like all other refugees, the Dai Li didn't let us talk about the war."

"What were you planning on doing with the papers?"

"To sell them to the smugglers, but then they decided to muscle me out of them. I may need your help in the future to break my son and I free from the Dai Li's grasp, the city would be a much better place without them."

Zuko nodded. "I'll find you when I'm ready for more work. Thank you." The potterer bowed and Zuko left towards Iroh's apartment.

Putting his Mask and outfit away in his closet in his room, Zuko felt gladdened that Iroh was snoring away in his room and had no clue he was out again as the Blue Spirit. Zuko laid on his bed and smiled up at the ceiling, admitting to himself that spending nights firebending and making Ba Sing Se a better place actually brought joy to him.

 **~000~**

Long Feng watched as his lieutenants forced two smugglers to their knees in front of him. "We found them sir." a Dai Li officer said. Long Feng stood up straighter in his chair. "You stole some papers from an administrator of mine. Where are they?"

"W-We don't know. Someone stole them from us."

"Who?" insisted Long Feng.

"It was that criminal the Fire Nation wants, t-the Blue Spirit!" the other smuggler said. "He came into our place and stole some of our money, along with the papers."

Long Feng motioned to one of his officers who brought him a chest. "Is this all the gold you found in their gambling hall?"

The officer nodded. "Yes sir."

Long Feng opened it and raised a quick eyebrow at the large number of coins inside the box. "I'll be taking this into the treasury for the Dai Li. Consider it a payment for keeping you here locked and fed as prisoners."

"F-For what?"

Long Feng laughed by huffing some air out of his nose. "Extorting confidential papers from a government operative, running a gambling operation without a license, and smuggling. It seems to me that prison is a suitable punishment for you and your band of criminals. Now...how did this...Blue Spirit manage to steal our papers from you?"

"He...he had firebending." a smuggler said.

"Impossible." Long Feng dismissed.

"I-I-I can prove it!" the lead smuggler stuttered. "He took down a dozen of my men! Th-They have burns!"

Long Feng looked to an officer and nodded. Dai Li brought in bound smugglers and made them kneel in front of Long Feng who kept speaking and sitting. "Show me."

The lead smuggler nodded to his men. "Show them the burns."

After seeing the scorch marks Zuko left on the thugs, Long Feng fixed himself in his seat. "Are you sure it was this Blue Spirit who burnt you?"

The bound men nodded and muttered 'mhms!'

"Very well." murmured Long Feng calmly. "Take them back to their cells."

After his men took them away, Long Feng muttered to one of his officers who acted as his bodyguards. "Must be quite the firebender to defeat a dozen men. But luckily we have some of the best-trained warriors in the country. Send word to our men to find this Spirit and bring him to me alive along with our papers he has."

"Yes sir." The bodyguard bowed and left the room.

Long Feng smirked and leaned back in his chair, thinking it would be easy to achieve such a thing.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Short chapter I know, but I couldn't just ignore this plot point. There'll be more of Zuko's firebending and him being the Blue Spirit in the later chapters. To me, it made sense that Zuko wouldn't just use his swords when he was surrounded, outnumbered and facing earthbenders. He'd understand that swords are great but their range is limited so firebending would be the only thing powerful enough to take on a lot of people fighting him.**

 **I understand that the shopkeep can't have an earthbender for a son if he's a non bender himself, but if his wife wasn't and could bend earth then according to canon it's fine.**

 **If anyone interested in RWBY or Jaune Gamer stories or Jaune Harem stories likes my writing and would want to see more of it, feel free to check out Arc of Legend on my profile, I'd really appreciate it and would be very very grateful for the support. Thank you all for reading, reviewing and supporting, and just being all around awesome fellow fans of the Gamer and Avatar the Last Airbender! Peace out and see you at the next update! ~MiyazakiFan18**


	5. Focus

**~000~**

 _Chapter Five: Focus_

 **~000~**

Iroh rubbed his chin at the poster the city guardsmen showed him. "No, I haven't seen him."

"Well, if you do, please contact the Earth nation authority immediately." the watchmen put the poster of the Blue Spirit away.

Zuko heard his uncle mutter to him as he rummaged about the tea shop's front counter for more tea cups. "I thought you weren't going out at night anymore to wear that costume of yours again."

"I had a job to do." Iroh didn't respond but Zuko kept speaking. "I want to improve my firebending uncle." he muttered again.

"Hmph. I am afraid that I am unable to teach anything to you properly while I am here in the city. We are here to relax, go out on another date with your girlfriend."

Zuko sighed. "I'm sick of that. Going out on dates all the time, helping you make tea all day. It's not what I want to do."

"You are already very experienced in the ways of firebending my nephew," Iroh said. "But if you do indeed wish to master it, you will need to travel quite far to train. Jeong Jeong, an old friend of mine, is considered by many such as myself, to be the greatest firebender alive, even greater than your father."

Zuko's eyes sparked up. "Really?"

Iroh nodded calmly. "You have my blessing."

"Thank you so much uncle!" Zuko hugged Iroh suddenly. Iroh was surprised because his nephew never did this but it was still heartwarming and he embraced him. Zuko pulled away and spoke. "Where would I go?"

"You will need to travel to a colonial settlement named Naipan, far west of here. Travel outside of it and you should find where he resides now in the summer."

Zuko bowed in thanks. "Thank you uncle."

Before he could leave to his apartment to pack his things, Iroh spoke calmly and quietly. "You should perhaps say goodbye to your girlfriend."

Zuko understood and hugged his uncle again by walking back.

"Be safe Zuko," Iroh said to his nephew.

 **~000~**

Jin gasped. "You're leaving the city?"

"I don't know when I'll come back. But-"

"You can't! The city watch doesn't let anyone leave!"

Zuko shook his head. "There's no need to worry about that, I'll be fine-"

"Even if you could, why would you? The city's completely safe!"

Zuko looked at her. "Jin...have you lived here in Ba Sing Se your whole life?"

She nodded.

Zuko breathed in deeply. "Okay." he looked aside to make sure any of Jin's family in her apartment couldn't hear him. "The city isn't safe, it's ruled by a group called the Dai Li." Jin could barely form words in shock as it sounded like madness to her. "I've seen them, I know what they're like. Stay safe, it won't be long before I come back."

"Li I," Jin paused, "Li I'll miss you."

Zuko nodded. "I'll miss you too." Zuko pressed his lips to Jin's forehead and left her apartment.

That night, the Blue Mask stole an ostrich horse and rode northwards with packs of water to survive the desert. For day and night he rode, drinking water and offering some to his steed that accepted.

Its claws patted the sand, and Zuko rode with the setting sun behind him on the horizon of the desert. He road through towns and villages, through river and forest, eating what he could buy with the gold and silver he stole from the smugglers.

He rested, staring into the fire he used to cook some rabbit squirrel and then falling asleep afterward. In the morning he rode off again.

Eventually, he reached the outskirts of a Fire Nation colony that matched his uncle's description. The small thatched huts that lined the river bank matched his description too, and Zuko rode in slowly.

He dismounted his ostrich horse and patted his fist on the door of a house.

"What do you want?" an unfamiliar voice said on the other side of the door.

"Er," Zuko swallowed. "I want to master firebending under your tutelage."

"Go away." the voice said.

"But I-"

"Now."

Zuko sighed. "My uncle suggested I should learn from you. Said he was an old friend."

Jeong Jeong, an aged firebending master, opened the door and looked at Zuko. In a split second, he understood and beckoned Zuko inside. Zuko saw the blue box only he could see floating over Jeong Jeong's head.

 **[Jeong Jeong - Level 73 Firebender]**

"So." Jeong Jeong poured Zuko a cup of tea. "What made you want to master firebending?"

"I couldn't train at all in Ba Sing Se, I needed some fresh air."

Jeong Jeong sipped his tea from his comfort he sat on. "The last I heard you were hunting down the Avatar. Are you perhaps wishing to become stronger to capture him?"

"I wish to become stronger to defeat the Dai Li, who threaten my city."

Jeong Jeong put down his cup. "Your city?"

"As the Blue Mask I feel I have to protect everyone in Ba Sing Se."

"Hm. A worthy virtue is altruism." Jeong Jeong admitted.

Zuko asked something. "I thought the Fire Nation knew this was where you lived."

"Yes. But after a few seasons, I returned, and they never would've known I had returned. We always hide when we hear a patrol boat up the river is coming, or if others are coming, and we remain secretive now." said Jeong Jeong. "So, if you wish to master firebending, I want you to follow my rules. You will follow my training regime, and you will adopt my ideals."

"Of course."

Jeong Jeong stood up holding a re-filled cup of tea and Zuko followed him outside into the spring sun. Jeong Jeong showed Zuko the cup. "Do you see how the heat flows through the cup and is released through steam? Energy flows quite similarly through you." Jeong Jeong looked around the trees and spoke to his new pupil. "Chi flows through pathways from large pools of Chi called Chakras within our body. To become a better firebender, you must be able to control your Chi better."

Zuko kept listening to Jeong Jeong's words. "How is Iroh?"

"He's fine. He opened a tea shop in Ba Sing Se, I helped him run it before I came here to train with you." Zuko motioned to him as Jeong Jeong ordered him to do something. "Start with the basics, let me see what you know."

Zuko obliged and began to bending fire everywhere with strikes, grunting and yelling as he did so. He did a series of punches that sent fireballs everywhere in a [Blaze] attack and soon spun about sending [Flame Gouts] about from his kicks. He kept using the [System]'s boost to his skillset of [Fire Techniques] to make his attacks more impressive, burning [Chi Points] all the while.

Zuko was left panting from the display and he looked to Jeong Jeong. Zuko watched as Jeong Jeong walked calmly to the river and closed his eyes. When he opened them, Jeong Jeong summoned a wall of flames from thin air that rose from the riverbank.

Zuko watched in awe as in a single simple upward movement of his hands, a wall of flames was summoned. Jeong Jeong lowered his hands and the wall of flame fell, and then he walked past a gawking Zuko and showed him a very simple fire technique.

Jeong Jeong used the legendary 'Flaming Fist' strike and his entire arm was lit ablaze as he struck a tree and a gigantic swath of trees including the one he struck burst into ash from the power of the flaming strike. It was if an explosion of energy was released from the one point on the tree he struck, and everything in front of Jeong Jeong had been scorched in a single moment.

The gigantic flame that emerged from the point where Jeong Jeong had struck was vanquished in an instant by how well Jeong Jeong controlled it.

Zuko was jaw dropped over the sheer power Jeong Jeong had while not even breaking a sweat. Jeong Jeong turned to Zuko and spoke. "Your technique is strong for your age. But you lack control over your breath and waste too much energy while bending. You should see more power result from the less Chi you use while bending, and I will give you that control."

Zuko nodded slowly as Jeong Jeong spoke again. "All benders tend to draw Chi from a particular source over others. Your uncle's primary source of energy comes from his stomach, mine comes from my chest muscles. But you seem to draw your energy from the Chi within your head."

"I-Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily. In time, you will come to learn to harness your Chi better, as you have more than most firebenders I know." He knew this after seeing the minutes and minutes of full power flames that Zuko released without ever getting tired. Jeong Jeong started walking past Zuko. "We will begin tomorrow morning at daybreak. There is food in the village if you're hungry."

Zuko saw his new teacher walk inside his hut and assumed that his calm and collected demeanor is what allowed for Jeong Jeong to expect Zuko to independent in providing food for himself. He was beginning to use some of his silver, but he knew he had more than enough money for the time being.

Zuko felt his stomach growl and walked off to buy food from the village.

 **~000~**

The following morning, Jeong Jeong stood outside his hut with Zuko and Jeong Jeong spoke. "Did you ever notice why your firebending might've been stronger during the day?"

Zuko shrugged. "Sometimes."

"Well, each element draws on a particular area of the environment for strength. Waterbenders draw on the moon for strength, Earthbenders draw on the earth, and Airbenders draw on the air. But firebenders such as ourselves draw on the sun." said Jeong Jeong. "Close your eyes. See if you can feel it."

Zuko did so as Jeong Jeong stepped around him explaining. "The sun is the source of all your bending. Without it, there would be no fire for you to create. Envision the sun."

Zuko saw a large ball of flame burning within his mind, increasing the warmth he felt along with rays of the sun on his face.

"Can you see it?"

Zuko nodded.

"Good. Now imagine you're feeling the sun close to you. Warming you, powering you, giving you your strength."

Zuko kept nodding.

"The sun is your closest ally when bending. Draw upon its energy by soaking in sunlight, and you will feel your strength increase tenfold from before." Jeong Jeong said, noting Zuko's somewhat pale skin.

Zuko opened his eyes after this and noticed how Jeong Jeong had much better-tanned skin than he did. While this might've not have been the determining factor in Jeong Jeong's mastery over firebending, it could explain why he was better able to absorb the energy the sun gave him while bending.

Jeong Jeong explained his regimen to Zuko. "Every morning you will get up and run to fetch me some fruit from the village. Your breath must be strong in order to bend properly. Then, we will begin a few hours of meditation and breath focus in the sun to allow your mind Chi to flow smoother. Before night falls, I will work on your strikes with you. We will also train heavily by increasing the strength and vitality of your body."

"Thank you." Zuko bowed.

Jeong Jeong nodded. "Now. Wait here a moment." Jeong Jeong brought out meditation mats from his home and set them on the ground where the sun was. "Your breath will be a crucial part of your training. Focus on your breath while we meditate, and you will feel your control over your Chi improve slowly with practice."

Zuko and Jeong Jeong sat down on mats and meditated together. Zuko felt the sun's rays fall on his face, and the nice feeling it gave him reminded him of snuggling with Jin. Jin, and all the happy thoughts that came with her filled Zuko's mind. He focused on his breath, and he felt himself begin to enter a calmer state as he meditated.

The sun's rays eventually moved as Jeong Jeong and Zuko meditated for hours on their mats. The sun passed overhead, and by midday when the sun shone brightest, a bit of shade cast from a tree branch interrupted Zuko's absorption of the sun's rays.

Jeong Jeong opened his eyes and stood up. "That concludes our meditation for today."

Zuko checked that the system had registered this.

 **[Congratulations! After hours of meditating, you have improved a |Bending Skill|: Level 1-Level 2 Chi Control]**

"Hours?" Zuko looked up to the sun's zenith where it was during midday. "We meditated for hours?"

"That means you are doing it correctly." Jeong Jeong noted. "Come. Let us work on your strikes."

"Are you going to teach me the Flaming Fist?"

Jeong Jeong shook his head. "You are far too inexperienced. You lack sufficient training and discipline. Fire focus attacks require immense levels of control over your Chi that very few men have. If you tried to use one right now, you could very well damage your chi pathways quite seriously, and perhaps permanently."

"But I have the energy for it! You told me I had more Chi than most people!"

Jeong Jeong remained calm at his pupil's raised voice. "The only reason you have such large pools of Chi is due to your bloodline containing the most powerful firebenders in history. If you weren't you would've run out of any useable Chi halfway through your display yesterday."

"S-Sorry master."

"No matter, you simply didn't understand. Let me see the first strike. A fire punch."

Zuko yelled as a burst of flame shot out from his strike. "Yah!"

Jeong Jeong adjusted Zuko's finishing stance. "Hm. The strike itself is adequate, but it lacks structure. Try balancing things on your head as you walk, if you improve your posture and balance, you will find the movement of your attacks more contained."

"More contained?"

Jeong Jeong demonstrated by doing the same body level punch Zuko did but this time he controlled his breath much better and didn't yell at all as Zuko did. The result was a much more powerful and bombastic attack that barely required any Chi at all to be used by him, compared to the moderate amounts Zuko used.

"My entire body focuses on the single area of my attack." Jeong Jeong rubbed his fingers along his knuckles to show Zuko. "By focusing on that one point, you are able to channel more energy into the strike itself while consuming less, and thus, your bending is made stronger."

"How do I do that?" wondered Zuko.

"Pretend that you're not sending flames to an opponent far away. Pretend you're striking him with your fist. And then you will feel your attack grow stronger."

Zuko tried that a few times and nodded, feeling what Jeong Jeong said prove true. He knew the [System] was registering his improvement and perhaps accelerating it, and Zuko began to train to become the firebender he was always meant to be.

 **~000~**

Jeong Jeong sipped tea as he rose up and down in the space outside his home, standing on Zuko's back as he did push ups in the forest by Jeong Jeong's riverhideout, his |STR| and especially his |STA| which determined for less Chi consumption being raised with his training.

They always began physical exercise after the hours of constant meditation to smooth the flow of Zuko's Chi pool within his mind.

Zuko grunted and kept going, sweating harder and harder under the sun that powered him and sweat weakness out of him. Yelling, Zuko pushed his physical limits which translated directly to his physical abilities while bending.

In another exercise, Zuko carried stones on his back up a hillside as Jeong Jeong stood at the top waiting for him. He kept sweating and grunting, using all of his strength to carry it up the hill. As he approached the top, he slipped and the stone rolled down the hill. Jeong Jeong nodded as he Zuko felt determined to get the stone again and try harder to get it back up the hill.

Zuko released fire punches as he ran up and down the river every morning delivering food for Jeong Jeong, carrying crates of fruit on his back and sweating as he bent.

Practicing their bending forms side by side on a tiny mountaintop overlooking the Fire Nation colony, Jeong Jeong and Zuko practiced on improving Zuko's strikes as Jeong Jeong had told him to. Waving their hands and feet about in crisp strikes that shook the air with fire. Zuko and Jeong Jeong did two quick fire punches and jumped into the air in a fiery spin in sync, landing and releasing fire in all directions when the landed upon the ground in a fire press.

Zuko started yelling less and breathing quietly more when he bent fire into the stones on that mountain top. Jeong Jeong nodded with just the tiniest hint of a small huff of air out of his nose as he left scorch marks on rocks.

The stones being carried up the hills kept falling, Zuko collapsed doing pushups with Jeong Jeong standing on his back, he slipped during intense moments of physical training again and again. But Jeong Jeong always saw Zuko get right back up and try again.

No matter how hard he fell, he got back up harder.

After a week or so, improvement began to show. Zuko started becoming more efficient in his strikes, bending hotter and larger flames with less Chi, his [Skill Level] in all his techniques rising along with his better fire attacks.

One night, Jeong Jeong even showed Zuko the proper way to release lightning, which allowed blue bolts to light up the night's sky. Zuko failed miserably as he could barely redirect it in the first place, but Jeong Jeong had to admit it did at least improve Zuko's control over his body.

The month went on, and Zuko grunted louder than he ever had when carrying the largest rock up the hill to Jeong Jeong.

He was on the verge of collapsing of exhaustion in all of his training. The running in the morning, the sun bathing, the pushups, the non stop fire bending on rocks. The strain it put on his muscles would be too much for anyone. It all sucked up Zuko's will and energy, and pushed him far beyond his limit from weeks of training.

Jeong Jeong watched as Zuko nearly broke under the weight of the rock, kneeling on the ground and...yelling as loud as he could as the rock flew upward from halfway up the hill in a release of pure fire energy channeled directly from his chi. Jeong Jeong nodded to Zuko approvingly and this inspired Zuko to work harder on his training.

Zuko's |STR| and |STA| increased even more as he ran past villagers on his usual morning run to fetch fruit for Jeong Jeong. He actually smiled, feeling the rays act kindly as his skin had grown much stronger due to the constant sunlight.

Zuko carried rock after rock up the hill using his increased power much to Jeong Jeong's approval. He did pushups with Jeong Jeong on his back faster and faster. He ran up and down the river to improve his Chi control even faster.

Zuko began to run past [Notifications] telling him of his improvement as he progressed on his quest to master firebending. All of his attacks were getting much sharper, and he was using far less Chi than he was before he started training with Jeong Jeong.

The two of them returned to the small mountain top and Jeong Jeong and Zuko spun around with flaming kicks before channeling their fire in a giant blaze that made a gigantic fire above the mountaintop, being visible from the village below.

Zuko practiced his bending again on the rocks Jeong Jeong used for him to scorch and his flames grew so hot and potent that one particularly well-done attack had blazed right through part of the rock and left a burning black husk where it sheered through.

Zuko stared at his fist, not believing the training Jeong Jeong put him through to be this effective.

Near the very end of the month of Zuko's first month of training, Zuko carried the largest rock he could find up the hill and laid it before Jeong Jeong. He nodded approvingly again, this time with a smile.

The world seemed to spin around them as Zuko improved his Chi channeling even more by meditating hours and hours, improving his training as a whole much more.

Doing basics by the river banks in the afternoon, Zuko's fire attacks grew so bright that parts of the forest began to become lighten up by it.

When night fell, Jeong Jeong looked from his hut to see Zuko practicing by the river bank as he had the whole month, the giant flames he produced from his fists and feet lighting up almost the entire riverbank.

One night a few of the locals from the Fire nation colony had seen Zuko's intense physical training the past month set out to scrap with him.

"So you think you're tough out here all on your own huh?" a few of the confident young men chuckled and punched their own palms, flames emanating.

Zuko accepted by getting into his stance and allowing them all to attack. They all bent at his face and Zuko avoided the flames by doing a spin kick over the ground in a leg sweep, striking all the young men's legs in a perfectly executed spinning attack.

Two fell over with burnt shins, but the other two kept fighting. They rolled aside to avoid a [Blaze Punch] from Zuko and struck him back. Zuko spun his hands around at the same time as he practiced with Jeong Jeong in their forms and the flames dissipated. Zuko launched into the air with a fire press he learned from the forms and when he landed on the ground he used the new fire technique he learned from Jeong Jeong [Fire Quake].

Flames burst out and the two young men bent through it with their blocks and pressed on.

One of them nearly got Zuko's face burnt again but he blocked it and turned to [Scorch Kick] the other firebender behind him. The strike got the man right in the midsection, being a controlled attack that was effective enough to put him out for the fight but not kill him.

The last remaining boy near Zuko's age from the colony who wanted to test his luck proved to indeed be the strongest of his group. Zuko and him traded flames for minutes on end, the two eventually summoning a large amount of Chi and sending a giant blast of fire at each other.

Two large flames met, lighting up the riverbank, pushing against each other. Zuko not only had more Chi but also had better control, and it wasn't before long before his fire won out over his opponents and the boy stumbled back while dissipating what pierced through.

Not wasting a second as he saw an opening by dashing up to him, Zuko applied all of Jeong Jeong's training in a completely focused body punch in the center of the Fire colony boys chest, nearly shattering his sternum in the process and sending him flying backward across the riverbank.

Zuko turned to Jeong Jeong who he knew was watching who smiled and nodded his head in a tiny bow. Zuko, ever respectful of his teacher, bowed back.

The following day, Zuko and Jeong Jeong sat face to face on their meditation mats and bowed to each other, their noses quite close to the ground to indicate Zuko had successfully improved as well as Jeong Jeong had wanted him to. Jeong Jeong stood up with his pupil and spoke to him. "You have done quite well Zuko but you still have much to learn. I am proud of the work you have done so far on the goals I have set for you."

"Thank you master Jeong Jeong." Zuko bowed and Jeong Jeong bowed back.

Jeong Jeong walked along the river bank with Zuko as they spoke. "Your uncle would be very impressed with your improvement as well. Perhaps you should return to Ba Sing Se before the end of summer."

"I'll have to think about it." responded Zuko.

Jeong Jeong admitted something. "I never would've guessed that you would've been one of my first true students."

"Well why?"

"You are Ozai's son after all. I wanted to leave the Fire Nation behind to get away from the Royal Family, not train part of it." Zuko looked down and Jeong Jeong sighed. "I understand that the situation with your family is, difficult. But if you set proper goals for where you want to go in life then maybe you could be more focused."

Zuko looked across the river bank and thought about this for a moment. Seeing his reflection along with his teachers, Zuko balled his fists as he touched his burn on his eye. "I know what I want to do. I want to become strong enough to defeat my father in an Agni Kai, and win our fight from when he burned me."

"Your father wouldn't be so merciful if he knew you would be coming to avenge his banishment of you."

Zuko shook his head. "It wouldn't be for that. For everyone he's wronged."

Jeong Jeong stroked his beard. "I fear that this may come from a place of hatred. Which may upset your Chi-"

"Forget my Chi for once!" Zuko snapped and turned to his teacher. "He's conquered the whole world! The entire world hates firebenders because of his cruelty! And now, everywhere I go I have to suffer for his mistakes, hiding who I really am. From the people I love! Aren't you angry that you have to live in hiding because you were too kind to be his soldier? At all?"

Jeong Jeong looked at his pupil calmly. "I see you might've directed your desire to find the avatar to defeating your father out of anger. But I feel shame in having failed to give you a proper source of emotion to base your bending off of. Would you like me to tell you the truth about those who choose mind chi as their primary source?"

Zuko nodded as he cooled off slowly.

"They value your emotions over all else, as you do. Your self-image becomes the very foundation for your bending, every bit of training you do is to improve that image. Out of emotion and desire you drive to bend, instead of reason or tranquility."

"Wouldn't using more mind chi mean I'm more logical?"

Jeong Jeong shook his head and pointed to the center of Zuko's chest. "That is not your emotional center." Jeong Jeong tapped Zuko's temple. "That is. Having mind chi be your primary pathway offers you the strongest and largest source of energy for bending, but not the most stable. Mind types such as yourself often hurt themselves more than they do others, and in are at the highest risk for rupturing their own chi paths."

"How can that happen?" asked Zuko.

"Due to having more chi than you can control, your firebending is much stronger than your body would be able to procure normally, and so you were made physically strong to reconcile this. Your family is much more composed and decisive about their emotions, and thus they are able to control their chi much better. If you were to use fire focus techniques like the Flaming Fist, the sheer amount of chi flowing from your mind to your fist would do more than damage your body. It could permanently damage chi vessels, and you may never be able to bend again. More importantly, it may even kill you if the rupture is too great."

Zuko looked down at his feet. "I understand. I will try to be more controlled in my emotions moving forward."

"You have learned well from your uncle." said Jeong Jeong after this. "Fire focus techniques can only be used by masters such as your uncle or father. Otherwise, you may very well hurt yourself while trying. They are the most powerful firebending techniques in the known world, but also the most dangerous for the user. You have mastered the basics of firebending I believe."

Zuko looked at Jeong Jeong surprisedly.

"For your age and skill level, I believe."

Zuko shrugged and nodded a little.

"Rest well tonight, we begin training again tomorrow. Last month we worked on chi channeling and physical strength. This month we will focus on combat and strikes."

Zuko bowed and walked back to the hut he used to sleep in while training with Jeong Jeong, just across the dirt path from Jeong Jeong's hut. Before he slept in his cot, Zuko checked his stats and improvement using the [Interface].

 **Name: Zuko (Alias: Li)**

 **Class: The Gamer/Firebender**

 **Level: 30 (1079/15000 EXP)**

 **Title: Banished Prince**

 **Age: 16**

 **Health Points: 700/700**

 **Chi Points: 700/700**

 **STR: 26 (+5)**

 **STA: 27 (+10)**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 18**

 **AGI: 24 (+10)**

 **LUK: 7**

 **Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces: 27, Earth Kingdom Silver Pieces: 29, Earth Kingdom Gold Pieces: 27**

 **Special Status: None**

 **Perks: -Adept Firebender (-20% Chi Point consumption when bending fire)**

 **-Focused (-15% Chi Point consumption when using all |Fire Techniques|)**

 **-Easy on the Eyes (+20% speed Progression in female 'routes')**

 **-Tenacious (+2 to all [Statistics] in combat)**

 **-Vital (+10 to |DMG| ability and -5% to Chi Point consumption when bending fire)**

 **Flaws:**

 **-Apathetic (-10% speed progression to all 'routes')**

 **-Hotheaded (-5% speed progression to all romantic 'routes')**

 **Known fire techniques:**

 **-Flame Gout (Level 16, 004/130)**

 **-Blaze (Level 11, 007/110)**

 **-Fire Punch (Level 36, 019/150)**

 **-Lightning Bending (Level 3, 002/220)**

 **-Fire Press (Level 5, 032/190)**

 **[Press here to expand this list]**

Zuko noticed how the [System] told him that he had become much stronger as he had better stats, which reflected his actual physical improvement as well. His fire techniques were much higher level, which made sense to him as he'd improved with their application since training with Jeong Jeong. The flames he created when using these techniques had grown much hotter and larger, in combination with the smaller amount of chi he used when bending.

Zuko fell asleep soon after, having come to terms with having the [Gamer] ability and now making sense of it as a way of measuring his progress as a firebender.

"Rawr," purred Ty Lee as she saw Zuko's bare upper body lying on his bed through his open front door to his hut. She then closed it, and ran silently over to Jeong Jeong's hut and tiptoed to his bed as he slept. She made a creaking sound against the floorboard as Jeong Jeong snored, before he stopped and woke up.

A swish of flames flew out from Jeong Jeong's fist as he bent outward to burn Ty Lee's ankles. She gasped and jumped to avoid this before landing back on the ground and jabbing Jeong Jeong's shoulder blade with a knife hand and another quick strike.

Jeong Jeong yelled in pain before he temporarily lost the ability to bend with his right arm, Ty Lee then knocking the old man out with her heel. As she dragged an unconscious Jeong Jeong out of his hut over her shoulders, Zuko had heard his teacher yell and had run out of his hut. "Master!?"

Ty Lee fled carrying Jeong Jeong with her and Zuko grunted. He flew towards her with a boost from the [Blaze] he created behind him and he chased her in the forest.

"Let go of him!" roared Zuko as he kept running through the forest after her.

Despite his intense physical training for the past month, Ty Lee was able to fly about from tree branches carrying Jeong Jeong with her. Zuko saw he was on the verge of letting his master get captured and so he did something drastic. He flew into the air with a burst from his [Blaze], setting off from the ground like an arrow and soaring at attack range to Ty Lee.

He aimed a perfectly timed [Blaze Punch] that caught Ty Lee at her shoulder. The acrobat shrieked and instantly dropped Jeong Jeong from being two meters or so in the air.

Zuko cushioned his fall with a [Fire Press] that sent flames spilling everywhere when he landed back again on the forest floor. Ty Lee landed hard on the ground and got knocked out in the process and so did an unconscious Jeong Jeong.

Zuko used his improved high |STR| stat to carry both of them to the Jeong Jeong's camp where his tribe could heal both of them, running as fast as he could to get them the help they needed as soon as possible.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **And so, Zuko's OPness won't be too soon, but he is coming along as a really strong firebender, and will only get more powerful from here on out. With Jeong Jeong and Iroh as his teachers, having a ton of chi, and having a bloodline of the strongest firebenders ever, Zuko has more than enough potential to stand toe to toe with Ozai after training hard enough. Ty Lee's route will be unlocked by Zuko next chapter and Zuko will continue his training with Jeong Jeong.**

 **I always wanted to see more interaction between Jeong Jeong and Zuko, it seems they'd become great friends because they're both deserters of the Fire Nation and have a long history with it.**

 **Thank you all for reading, reviewing, and supporting! It means a great deal! If any of you are interested check out my RWBY story 'Arc of Legend.' Again, thank you all for supporting this story and have a good day!**

 **Also, thanks for letting this story pass 300 follows, means a lot guys I really appreciate it.**


	6. Strike

**~000~**

 _Chapter Six: Strike_

 **~000~**

The waterbender in Jeong Jeong's tribe passed healing water over both Jeong Jeong and Ty Lee after Zuko brought them to him.

"Are they all right?" worriedly asked Zuko.

The healer nodded, the water glowing around his hand as he worked. "He shattered his shoulder blade from the fall. The girl however, has lost most of the tissue on her shoulder from the burn. If it were a simple scorch I could heal it easily, but I am afraid it is burnt too far."

Zuko gulped. "Will she," he trailed.

"She won't be able to use her right arm for a while, much less move until it's healed properly." The healer murmured. "Fetch me some healing ointments from the village then leave us, this will take some time. Your teacher will be able to move around in the morning I'm sure."

Zuko nodded and set out to the Fire nation colony village as quick as he could, eager to train with Jeong Jeong in the morning.

 **~000~**

Ty Lee groaned quietly as she awoke, seeing Zuko kneeling in front of her calmly. She struggled as she felt ropes tied around her, attaching her to the wooden beam holding up her tent in Jeong Jeong's camp.

"How did you find us? Why did Azula send you?" demanded Zuko.

"She wanted to get the bounty on Jeong Jeong." Ty Lee said. "Can I have some water please?"

Zuko lifted Ty Lee's chin and drained some of his water pouch into her mouth. "Ah." she smiled. "It's been a while Zuko. You're looking," she admired his body after a month of training. "Fine. Enjoying the summer I see."

He ignored this. "Is Azula in Ba Sing Se?"

"Yes." Ty Lee nodded. "Mai's with us too."

Zuko's eyes widened. "My uncle and Jin! Are they in danger?"

"Mai wanted to cut your girlfriend's throat when she first saw her if that's what you're asking. But they're both fine." Zuko held his forehead and stood up off the ground. He felt a throbbing headache come on and Ty Lee's words didn't help. "You look stressed, maybe you should-"

"Stop talking!" his classic temper flared. "For just once all right!?"

Zuko rubbed his temple. _'Azula wouldn't be in Ba Sing Se without reason. She's planning something for sure, I have to go back.'_

Ty Lee titled her head at him. "Zuko?"

The firebender sighed. "Yes?"

She smiled and closed her eyes. "It's good to see you again."

Zuko hesitated in his response, first observing the description the [System] gave her which floated above her head.

 **[Ty Lee - Level 29 Chi Blocker]**

"You're a very sweet girl Ty Lee," Zuko paused and took note of how his uncle spoke. "Please feel ask if you need anything."

"Aw, that's so kind of you!" chortled the acrobat.

 **[Congratulations! You have unlocked a new |Romantic Route|: |Ty Lee|]**

 **[Congratulations! You have gained +5 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]**

 **[Current Relationship: Childhood Friends (34/100)]**

 **[|Route Description|: Ty Lee has been part of your friend group from when you grew up in the Royal Palace of the Fire Nation since you both were little. While a devout and loyal follower of your sister Azula, she still is a very charismatic and energetic girl who is very kind.]**

Zuko quite honestly didn't care about this because he wanted to get right back to training with Jeong Jeong. He walked out to the river where his teacher was standing, his chest wrapped in bandages to hold his snapped shoulder blade in place.

"Are you still able to bend master?" asked Zuko respectfully as he stepped into the river bank with his trainer.

The man nodded. "Yes. Now we have already focused on the mental and physical aspects of firebending, but now we will apply that training directly to combat. There will be a Fire Days Festival in the village and there will also be an annual tournament hosted in sparring and forms. At the end of the month, you will compete in both to show what you have learned. Is that understood?"

"Yes, master." Zuko bowed.

"That girl. Do you know her?"

"Yes Jeong Jeong, I do. She's a friend of my sisters and wished to capture you and collect the ransom my father put on your head."

He stroked his beard. "Should I still be worried?"

Zuko shook his head. "No master, she wouldn't try it again especially now."

Jeong Jeong saw the look on Zuko's face. "Is something the matter Zuko?"

He nodded. "Azula's in Ba Sing Se, I'm afraid for uncle's life as well as Jin's."

"Jin. This is your lover?"

Zuko breathed in deeply. "Girlfriend."

"Hm, well you are free to leave whenever you like. However, you have only just begun your training and there is still much to learn."

"Like what master?"

Jeong Jeong explained. "First, your performance at lightningbending is still very poor. You lack serious control and alignment in your chakras, even after training properly, you cannot release nor transfer lightning properly."

"Well, why?" Zuko asked impatiently, the river flowing smoothly past his ankles.

"Until you have dealt with your inner turmoil and decided the direction you wish to take yourself, you still will have a confused mind, which is the main source of your energy. Your bending will suffer greatly, especially such a refined art as lightning." Jeong Jeong raised his hand to the forest and river around them, Zuko looking. "Take the beauty of the wilderness. Does it not all flow in harmony within itself? The wind runs through every blade of grass, through every leaf, equally, and pushes it all gently where it pleases."

The tips of the trees and grass all waved in the same direction, the river doing the same in its flow. "There is a singular direction and purpose to nature, and within it, it is all connected. You are quite different. You are still split in between your past and future lives, wishing to become strong enough to defeat your father and yet also wishing to protect the ones you love. If you leave now without deciding this, you will never be able to bend to the fullest of your ability, or even live properly."

"So, what do I do?" asked Zuko.

Jeong Jeong as always had the answers. "You must choose whether you must stay or leave. It is your choice."

Zuko thought about this for a moment, standing with his firebending master in the center of the river. "I'll stay for another month training with you for the tournament, then I'll leave to Ba Sing Se and confront my sister and the Dai Li."

Jeong Jeong bowed to Zuko who bowed back. "So be it." Jeong Jeong turned downstream. "Now, for your first lesson in striking, we will again return to focus. While you lack enough training for fire focus techniques, you will still improve greatly from these lessons." Zuko understood as his teacher kept explaining. "Part of my back has been fractured, and yet, my chakras and mind remain whole. Even though I have suffered a grave injury, I still am able to bend fire. Observe."

Jeong Jeong closed his eyes and the moment he opened them he extended his open palm outward and a flame jet was burning in front of his palm. Zuko thought it was already astonishing that this very aged man was able to incinerate a small portion of a forest with a single physical attack, but it blew him away at what happened next.

Blowing downstream, the small jet of flame that appeared at Jeong Jeong's palm exploded into a torrent that stretched as wide as the entire river, and stretched nearly the length of a Fire Nation fleet battleship. Zuko again grew jaw dropped at the 'Explosion Torrent' technique.

Zuko remained silent as Jeong Jeong ceased his gigantic flame that grew hot enough to perhaps melt steel. "At the moment of contact, when you begin your technique, your entire mind must be cleared. Was I thinking of the problems in my life and the fact that I was teaching when I performed my technique? No, the only the thing that mattered was the technique itself to me. That must be your mental process when bending fire."

Zuko nodded as Jeong Jeong added something else. "Now, we begin your training again."

Jeong Jeong gave Zuko drills that once again pushed him beyond his physical limits. There was no meditation, just pure exercise.

He carried water buckets up and down the river with its water waist high, the boy grunting as he dragged them upstream. Zuko's legs felt like they were going to give out, but he kept pushing. He had no idea why Jeong Jeong was nodding in approval but it was because Zuko was activating muscles he had never even used in the water.

Zuko had to carry his teacher around on his back, jumping over tree roots and rocks in the forest. Once he tripped and fell, grunting in frustration and picking his teacher back up, running once again.

He did pushups by the river bank, pull-ups on tree branches, and crunches while his knees sat on tree branches. While he extended and rested, Jeong Jeong slapped a bag of sand into his stomach, making his abdominals stronger. He ran in the sun carrying Jeong Jeong on his back, he lifted rocks and threw them, and above all, he bent fire day and night.

The river bank lit up like a candle at night as Zuko bent fire at his master, the two practicing together. Jeong Jeong easily evaded his student's quick fireballs the size of boulders and other flame jets that flew towards him, closing the distance between them the whole time.

Jeong Jeong flicked his student up into the air with a leg sweep that dragged up river water and slammed Zuko down into the river bank. Jeong Jeong helped him back up, the both of them soaked in river water, and continued sparring.

Zuko nearly collapsed as he dragged buckets of water on his shoulders upstream, panting and grunting as he rested on his knees. Ty Lee watched from her tent by the river, wanting Zuko to get back up again and keep trying. Zuko tripped over yet another tree root in the forest, this time bloodying himself in the process.

Zuko kept getting defeated by Jeong Jeong time and time again when they sparred, the boy getting continually more frustrated. At the lowest of his training, he had pushed his body too far, his muscles giving out multiple time.

He stayed resting in his bed in the house Jeong Jeong gave him, exhausted more than he had ever been in his life. He began to feel a small spark inside his chest, like the flame jet Jeong Jeong could summon. He stood up out of his bed, almost stumbling but standing back up. Zuko made it to the river bank and balled his fists, prepared to let all of his anger out.

When he did, he opened his mouth and fire flew from his fists and breath, gouts of flame turning the river into steam.

Jeong Jeong appeared after Zuko's anger in the form of flames died down and he stood in the river with him again. "That anger. Manifest it into two energies, and then re-direct it through your body."

Zuko began to nod slowly. His two lives, his two paths, grew as memories and feelings in his mind, and he began to divert them into two separate energies within his chi, the confusion between his two sides focusing into a single one to contain and then separate both of them. Then, as if an explosion had burst through his chi paths, bolts of light blue energy began to zap and sparkle around his body.

His yelling began to grow as his hair floated from the sheer amount of [Chi Points] he was consuming, redirecting the lightning he produced. Flying down the river, Zuko's lightning began to crackle and sparkle, lighting up the entire river bank.

Jeong Jeong smiled widely at Zuko the boy gasping and staring at his fingers in disbelief at the focus and control the man helped him achieve.

 **[Congratulations you have improved at |Firebending Skill|: |Lightning Bending|!]**

 **[Lightning Bending (Level 3 - Level 4)]**

The next morning, after Zuko had completed all of his drills with a new found energy and strength, Jeong Jeong and Zuko bowed to one another on the ground on meditation mats, signifying the end of Zuko's second month of training.

Fire Days Tournaments were jokes to Zuko, and this was no different, especially now. In forms, when performing the form 'Elegant Fists' Zuko wowed the entire village with strikes so precise they burned a new color of flame no one had seen, bright yellow.

Everyone applauded as he took first place in forms, shortly followed then by sparring.

"Ready?" the town elder raised his hand as the two young men prepared to spar. "Fight!"

Zuko immediately countered the coming flames with a leg sweep across the wooden platform, his opponent crashing into the ground. As Zuko jumped into the air with a fist that was lit aflame, the town elder yelled. "Stop!" Zuko landed and his fist was extinguished, an inch away from hitting the other firebenders face.

The elder raised Zuko's hand. "Winner!"

Everyone murmured as they applauded, never seeing someone win a fight so quickly.

The other opponents Zuko faced were jokes as well, either being swept or thrown out off the platform by Zuko's strikes. By the end, the final opponent Zuko faced was a man twice his size and just attacked first after the match began. He started off by bending fireballs that were easily blocked as he ran toward the man. Then he did a throw over his leg when he closed the distance between them and threw the man into the ground, smashing him through the wood of the platform.

Since the man couldn't really get off the ground from the power of Zuko's attack, he was declared unable to fight and automatically conceded the match.

After he was given first place for sparring, everyone cheered. Zuko turned to see Jeong Jeong nodding from beneath his hood and Ty Lee who was being watched closely by Jeong Jeong even though she was still too weak to run off, the girl smiling at Zuko as she munched on some treats she bought at the festival.

Zuko knew he was ready to return to Ba Sing Se, and fight whoever he had to. He had reached |Level 32|, physical abilities reflected as well in this improvement.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Here's a quick response to a review: xxxGmanxxx: Lightning bending requires a lot of training to improve, Zuko pulled off his lightning release through force of will. Also, he can only improve it through practicing it, there is no way to use experience points to improve it.**

 **Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. If anyone wants to check out a RWBY story of mine where Jaune is OP, has the Gamer power, and has a harem, feel free to check out "Arc of Legend" on my profile. Next story I'm updating is my SAO one, and then my RWBY story.**

 **If anyone here reads Arc of Legend and would like to answer a poll I just put up about it, please feel free to answer it on my profile. I bid you all a great day awesome readers!**


	7. The Long Road Back

**~000~**

 _Chapter Seven: The Long Road Back_

 **~000~**

Ty Lee slept quietly on Zuko's back tied up with ropes as he rode the Ostrich Horse away from the Fire Nation settlement. Zuko shivered slightly when she leaned forward a bit more and pressed herself closer accidentally.

Zuko knew she wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable, but then again, Ty Lee was the bustiest girl he knew and was still leaning on his back. Zuko shook his head to ignore this as he rode past fields with distant statues in them. Squinting in the sunlight, Zuko looked more intensely at them, and somehow, they seemed to disappear. Sweating, Zuko reached for his water pouch and drank from it, feeling the sun wear him down.

The source of his power also proved to be his greatest weakness as he rode further down the path towards Ba Sing Se, the sun glowing brightly in the afternoon sky.

Eventually, Zuko camped out on the side of the road when night fell, setting out two bed rolls and a campfire. He shot out a blast of flames from his palm to light it and sat down looking at it.

Ty Lee yawned when she woke up. Zuko kept his eyes off her when she stretched upward and unknowingly revealed more of her body.

"Zuko?" Ty Lee rubbed her eye as she looked around the plains. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." answered the Prince as crickets sung. "We could be anywhere."

Ty Lee looked down at her binds. "And why have you tied me up?"

"You tried to capture Jeong Jeong." Zuko kept staring into the fire he made with his own hands. "Still don't trust you."

"Oh." Ty Lee frowned as Zuko remained silent. "They are pretty tight."

Zuko ignored this calmly.

"Zuko."

He turned from the fire to her with a look that yelled 'I heard you.' which silenced her instantly for a moment. "Why're you acting this way to me?"

Zuko blinked slowly. "You're with Azula, and there's no honor in that."

"Mai's with Azula. Do you hate her too?" asserted Ty Lee as laid down on her bedroll.

Zuko's eyes lit up as he turned to Ty Lee. "Mai's in Ba Sing Se?"

"She saw you with your girlfriend. She's really cute by the way."

Zuko breathed in tightly. "Is she angry?"

Ty Lee nodded. "She was, but then Azula stopped her."

"Stopped her?" Zuko asked alarmingly.

"Don't worry, I doubt she'll hurt her now. What's her name?"

Zuko turned back from Ty Lee's brown eyes to the crackling fire. "Jin."

"I don't think his Majesty would approve of that. She's an Earth Nation peasant after all."

"Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I make it back to Ba Sing Se and make sure Jin and Uncle are safe."

Ty Lee gasped in pain when she rolled over on her bag right on her weak shoulder. Zuko stood up and knelt in front of her. "Here, let me." Zuko untied the bandages and saw the damage he caused, the smooth skin of Ty Lee's shoulder literally scorched off her body.

"Your bending is stronger than before," Ty Lee said. "Your training must've worked. Why'd you leave Ba Sing Se?"

Zuko sighed as he passed his hand over the burn he made on his childhood friend. "I was tired of running the tea shop, I wanted something new." Zuko looked Ty Lee in the eyes again. "Don't lie to me. Why did Azula send you and what is she planning?"

"She sent me to capture Jeong Jeong and turn him in to the Imperial Navy. She plans to take Ba Sing Se from the inside and liberate it for the Fire Nation."

Zuko took a moment to process this before shaking his head. "But why would she let you tell me this?"

"Azula doesn't think you're a threat to her or her plans. She thinks that the Earth Nation Authority won't believe you if you tell them and you and your Uncle won't be able to stop her."

"Azula always lies." Zuko stood up and returned back to his own sleeping bag. "I think that she could be able to fight me evenly, but Uncle? He's almost as strong as father, she has help doesn't she?"

Ty Lee smiled. "Perhaps."

"When we get back to Ba Sing Se, I don't want you to think I'm still friends with you three."

Ty Lee's smile slid into a frown. "W-Wait, why not?"

Zuko bit his bottom lip. "I won't let you or Azula take Ba Sing Se."

"You owe the city nothing, what're you talking about?"

He remembered Jin and others like her, as well as the legacy of the Blue Mask. "I owe the city plenty."

"You're going to betray our country and our cause?" asked Ty Lee.

Zuko turned to her slowly from the fire. "I'm already wanted by the Fire Nation, the last time I trusted Azula she tried to capture me. I won't ever fight for her or father."

"B-But, how could you decide to do this so quickly?" Ty Lee grew surprised.

"It wasn't quick," admitted Zuko. "I realized it as I trained with Jeong Jeong. Firebending is beautiful, it's an expression of one's self. Using it to destroy is a disgusting use of it."

"And so Jeong Jeong taught you this?"

"No." he remembered him spending hours staring at the riverbank by Jeong Jeong's hut reflecting on his training. "His teachings let me realize it. And it's why I'll never rest until Jin and Uncle are safe."

Ty Lee laid back down on her sleeping pad and turned around. "You've changed Zuko."

"Yes," he mumbled as he stared into the fire. "I have." He looked into the fire and thought aloud as Ty Lee tried to sleep. "One day I'll fight father again. And this time I'll try to win. This time, I won't be weak." the reflection of his own flames whipped and snapped in his eyes. "This time, I won't hold back during our Agni Kai. Even if he takes my life."

"What made you start thinking this way?" Ty Lee groaned from her bag.

Zuko answered simply. "Jin."

After a bit of silence, Ty Lee rolled back in her bag. "Don't die Zuko. I don't want you to die."

Zuko didn't respond, but he could understand that she still considered him her friend even after all he said. Reflecting on his realizations, Zuko's version of honor had changed. Death didn't scare him, he had seen it when his father burnt half of his face off to teach him a lesson. Now he'd embrace it if it came from the same fist, but he wouldn't be kneeling this time around.

 **~000~**

Zuko woke up to see Ty Lee still snoozing. For such an energetic girl, he was surprised to see she enjoyed sleeping so much. Zuko untied his ostrich horse from a tree to go find something for both of them to eat. Out in the plains, Zuko heard a flock of pigeon quails chirp and dismounted his steed quietly. Crouching and approaching slowly, Zuko already planned his attack.

Bursting out from his hiding spot, Zuko punched out fireballs and struck as many as he could before they could flutter away. The three that remained twitched on the ground before Zuko put them out of their misery.

Ty Lee awoke to smell the aroma of multiple birds being cooked on a spit by Zuko above a small flame.

"Got us breakfast," Zuko mumbled as he slid them off the spit onto two small plates.

She took the food Zuko passed to her. "Th-Thank you." Ty Lee picked a small bone out of her teeth as Zuko finished his pigeon quail much quicker than she did. "Mm, so where are we going?"

"Through a village, it's a place that leads right to Ba Sing Se."

"Can I ride in front please?" Ty Lee gave him a bright smile.

Zuko put his plate back into the ostrich horse's saddle, taking a second to consider this. "All right. But I'm still holding the reins."

Ty Lee offered him the last cooked quail pigeon. "We can share."

Zuko shook his head.

"Really? Come on."

Sighing, the banished Prince stripped off a wing and chewed on it quietly much to Ty Lee's appreciation.

 **[Congratulations! You have gained +10 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]**

They rode out from the campground Zuko cleaned up with Ty Lee riding in front of Zuko. After feeling the morning sun on their backs for a few hours, Ty Lee smirked as she wiggled back on the saddle. Zuko looked back and saw there was no more space to back up on otherwise he'd fall off his ostrich horse.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, Ty Lee? Can you move forward please?"

"Why?"

"I don't have that much space back here."

"Well, feel free to put your hands on my hips." she turned back with a smirk. "I don't bite Zuko." Groaning as he had no other choice between falling off or giving in, Zuko leaned his head forward onto her left and bandage free shoulder. The system registered that Zuko was doing something Ty Lee desired and promptly notified him about it.

 **[Congratulations! You have gained +10 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]**

"See? Not so bad huh? This can't be the first time you've been so close to a girl."

Zuko remembered snuggling with Jin once and agreed with a small nod on her shoulder.

Ty Lee giggled. "I knew it. Mai would be so jealous."

 _'Mai.'_ Zuko frowned. _'I don't know why, but I miss her. Could be all this time I'm spending with Ty Lee.'_

"You going to tell her?"

Ty Lee kept smiling. "What? That there 'wasn't enough space' on the horse and you had to get closer? Please, that'd be asking for a knife to the face."

Zuko contained his snort, knowing that would not be unlike Mai to do. Feeling himself doze off slightly from the sun and hours of riding, Zuko wrapped his arms around Ty Lee to not let himself slip off and felt the small ropes he tied around her on his hands. Ty Lee enjoyed the fact that he was willing to hold a small tender moment between them in reminiscence of their old friendship in the Royal Palace.

 **[Congratulations! You have gained +15 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]**

 **~000~**

Zuko woke up when he heard Ty Lee's voice. "Zuko! Zuko wake up we're here."

He shook his head off Ty Lee's shoulder and saw the village approach. As the ostrich horse began to near the town, Ty Lee brought something up. "Zuko, I'm not going to run away. We're traveling companions on the way back to the city all right?"

Zuko accepted. "All right. I trust you."

While she was definitely still loyal to Azula, Zuko never knew Ty Lee to lie about anything. He untied her ropes and threw them on the side of the road.

They strode into town and Zuko recognized it. "There's a place we can stop for the night. If we get up early tomorrow morning we can ride all the way back to Ba Sing Se by the next day if we don't stop."

"Sounds exhausting." Ty Lee said. "But all right, we'll rest up for today then."

They rode past a small infirmary and Zuko got down first to help Ty Lee off the horse before he tied it up. They walked inside and the woman attending it grew wide-eyed as Zuko approached.

"L-Li?" Song asked.

"H-Hello Song." He cleared his throat.

Ty Lee turned to Zuko. "Li? Really, that's what you're going with?"

Zuko raised a hand to motion to Ty Lee's shoulder. "My friend here was burned by a soldier. Can you heal her?"

Song stayed silent for a moment but nodded quietly anyway. She led Ty Lee into a treatment area and sat her down on the table, Zuko sitting on a nearby bench as he watched. Song spoke in her light voice as she examined Ty Lee's shoulder burn. "This seems to be a very deep wound, whoever healed this did so well. Unfortunately, it still needs time to mature before it can heal completely."

Ty Lee saw Song mix a few herbs into a small pot over a stove Song set as she created a simple ointment. "Here." Song pressed the rag dipped in ointment against Ty Lee's shoulder.

She let out a satisfied groan at Song's work as she felt it.

Song removed the rag and bandaged up Ty Lee's burn with new material from a drawer and spoke to her. "Take the ointment I am going to give you and apply it daily. After a week or so it should begin to heal on its own and you can stop using bandages."

"Thank you Song," Zuko said as she drained the small wooden bowl into a glass stopper and handed it to Ty Lee.

Zuko reached for the money he had in his pockets and Song shook her head. "There's no need for that."

"Song, I'm sorry for-" The look on her face was enough to get Zuko to stop talking. He opened his mouth again. "About your home, I have gold. I can repay you for-"

"There's no need for that. I'm afraid my home isn't open to visitors at the moment." Song motioned to the door of the treatment room. "Thank you for coming."

Ty Lee muttered to Zuko as they left. "She was nice to me but what was her problem with you?"

"I stole two ostrich horses from her."

Ty Lee gasped. "Why?"

"I was walking with Uncle for days. I thought I deserved it." Zuko frowned down at his shoes. "I'll never steal like that again, that was before I met Jin."

"Oh." They approached an inn in front of which Zuko tied his steed to. When they entered, the innkeeper looked at Zuko from his desk. "A single or double bed room?"

"Double." Zuko placed a few silver coins on the desk and the innkeeper led them to their room on the second floor of the inn. After opening the door for them the innkeeper scratched his beard. "Feel free to come down after sundown, we serve dinner free of charge. Enjoy your stay."

It didn't take very long for Zuko to sleep in his bed after an exhausting day of riding.

 **~000~**

Zuko woke up to hear a small commotion in the streets. He walked out of the inn to see Ty Lee and a few others mumble as a small gang of men carrying weapons rode into town loudly.

"What's going on?"

Ty Lee answered quietly. "Bandits," she said as they dismounted and began to walk towards Song's hospital.

Zuko felt anger seeing them enter it. He waited a moment before they entered and threw Song out of it. "That's it woman?" the leader yelled and threw the box of coins at her, the money clattering against the street as it broke. "Where's the rest?"

"P-Please!" Song begged. "Take what you want but just not the medicine!"

The bandit nodded to his underlings and they entered the hospital again and Zuko stepped up. He did what he felt was right and bent fire right at the bandit's chest. The [Fireball] struck him so powerfully that he flew backwards with his clothes on fire and collapsed against the wall of Song's hospital.

Many watching gasped in surprise and Ty Lee struck the men who ran outside when they heard the commotion.

Ty Lee dodged spears and swords and chi blocked multiple men before Zuko untied his ostrich horse and brought it around with a yell. "Ty Lee!"

The acrobat did a backflip under a sword slash and flew backward into the air right onto another ostrich horse a bandit brought with him. The two rode off as the bandits chased after them. Zuko bent fireballs at them and eventually they dispersed as they were left far behind.

Zuko and Ty Lee rode off together and continued their journey to Ba Sing Se.

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **~000~**

 **Due to a lot of reasons including a lack of free time now that I've started school, I'm declaring hiatus on all my stories for a while until I can find both the motivation and time to write.**

 **It's been long overdue I needed a break and this announcement will be up on my profile as well in case anyone who follows my other stuff wants to know what's going on. I'm doing this because I'm sure there will be curiosity surrounding a lack of updates.**

 **But I thank you all for reading and I appreciate it a lot. Thank you.**


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